Round the Horn. An Irwin J. McIckleson Production

Good morning all. This is Irwin J. McIckleson, fictional 1910's Plutocrat and your guide to the world of the Liberal Coalition.

Apparently some reverend has called for the assassination of the President of Venezuela. All I can say is that Father Domingo (my priest) needs to talk to this reverend. When I wanted to "take care of" a local union leader, he got all over my case. It was not pleasant at all.

blogAmY has a post about how Great Britain is considering guidelines for deporting hate preachers, and suggests such guidelines might be used with Reverend Robertson (who made the assassination comment above).

Happy Furry Puppy Story Time has a further selection of quotes by this Reverend Robertson. These quotes make him sound somewhat delusional (the one's I understand anyway.

AND THEN . . . has a story I find fascinating. Apparently the plans to build robots did eventually bear fruit - but said fruit was reduced to acting in movies of a questionable nature.

LeftyBrown's Corner has a section on his favorite ten things of the week, none of which I understand in the least. But he seems very passionate on the subject.

Collective Sigh has a section on how President Bush is running the corporation like a business. He gives some very good advice on what a president of a struggling corporation might do - either work day and night to fix the problems or gut it and abandon it. Both are good strategies, but of course the real answer is to do your research ahead of time, so that if a company has problems, you don't end up buying it in the first place.

Dihiyi Mir has a nice photo that shows that Mrs. Sheehan is still being thought of.

President Bush is out shoring up support in those areas that still support him, according to a story at Rooks Rant. That doesn't strike me as the most courageous plan of action.

T. Rex's Guide to Life has the information that profiling based on race is apparently ineffective. I have to say that is not something I would have thought, but the argument is pretty convincing.

Anyway that's it for another week - hope you are all enjoying your Friday. I know I will enjoy mine; apparently one of the employees took a hammer home with him. So I am having them all flogged as a lesson. And then home for roast goose and pudding. So a very enjoyable day for me; I hope you have the same.

Lamps too

OK, I think I got the Lamps Page fixed up. Here it is, for those of you interested.

Meta-Commentary

I know you are all smart enough to pick up on these parallels yourselves, but I think I ought to underline where Grumbly Muffin might have acquired her "flexible" relationship with the truth.

I mean, Cindy Sheehan is just Bill Burkett. Her story is nothing more than forged documents. There's nothing about it that's real, including the mainstream media's glomming onto it. It's not real. It's nothing more than an attempt. It's the latest effort made by the coordinated left.

- Rush Limbaugh, August 15.

Apparently, what's out there is that I said that Cindy Sheehan is no different than Bill Burkett, that Bill Burkett lied and Cindy Sheehan lied. They're actually out there, people saying that I am accusing Cindy Sheehan of making up the fact that she had a son and making up the fact that her son died in Iraq. And of course, I've never said this.

- Rush Limbaugh, August 17.

You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.

- Pat Robertson, August 22.

Wait a minute, I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should, quote, "take him out," and "take him out" can be a number of things including kidnapping. There are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP, but that happens all the time.

- Pat Robertson August 24.

I'd just like to say that all of the readers of this website are TOTAL MORONS.

- Grumbly Muffin, August 24.

I've noticed a lot of people commenting that I said something "hurtful" to our readers or that I called our readers total morons. I don't know how these sorts of RUMORS get started, but I think it's telling that the left has to resort to blatent DISTORTION to win arguments.

- Grumbly Muffin, August 25.

Now to be fair, Mumbly Gruffin's comments were a little different than Limbaugh and Robertson's. They waited two days before they started making stuff up; she only waited one day.

Lamps

As mentioned previously we are gallerizing some of the artwork presented at this website, such as it is. Mainly because this is turning out to be a slow day, and also because the Monster likes pictures. Anyway, those of you who remember my lamp pictures, here they are. Enjoy!

Edited to add - this isn't working right - need to figure out what I did wrong.

A Clarification

I've noticed a lot of people commenting that I said something "hurtful" to our readers or that I called our readers total morons. I don't know how these sorts of RUMORS get started, but I think it's telling that the left has to resort to blatent DISTORTION to win arguments.

A Comment

I have to say that I agree with Miss Jetson on this score. While you may feel that our readers our morons it is not practical to call them as such.

Plus I'd also like to call attention to the inelegant phrase TOTAL MORON. I fail to see how using all capital letters improves the statement at all.

And at any rate I find the phrase uneducated dolts to be far more effective.

An apology

Hi all : (

I'd just like to say that the hurtful comments of Grumbly Muffin down below aren't reflective of how we think of our readers. I don't know why such comments were made - I think it's really sad.

I've always appreciated our readers and the time you give to us, and I hope to provide more than abuse to those who take the time to read this blog.

Message to Our Readers

I'd just like to say that all of the readers of this website are TOTAL MORONS.

Just thought I'd get that off my chest.

Ben Shapiro

I would like it better if Conservative Americans did not have any power or very little power. Let me amend that. I would like it better if the neo-conservative boneheads along the lines of Ben Shapiro, Pat Robertson, and President Bush, had no power to implement their policy. I don't think they add very much positive (if anything). On the contrary the influence of this type of modern conservative has been very very negative. So I would like to see these people, others like them, and people who support them lose power in America.

Of course there are certain constitutional and moral limits to how far I can go in shutting them up; in reality I'm mostly limited to trying to present an alternative view and, more often, criticizing their own bonehead statements. Which brings us to today's article by Ben Shapiro.

Ben Shapiro is still lamenting that as a young conservative he may be criticized for hosting a talk show in Oklahoma City rather than enlisting to fight a war he supports (and apparently four or five other wars he also supports (when we get around to them)). In this article Ben Shapiro lets out a deep dark secret; people like Michael Moore and Susan Serandon would rather see people who think like them making decisions for this nation.

What a shocker. This is totally different from young Ben who, of course, favors people who think different from him. Oh wait, that's nonsense.

What clearly gets young Ben's goat, besides the personal angle to this argument, is that this has proven an effective technique. The right wing in this nation has spent all day and every day telling America that Liberals are unpatriotic, that we don't love our country, that we don't care about regular Americans, that we are elitist snobs and so on and so forth. SO when we get a comeback that punctures this particular line of attack, well, it's worth using.

Ben Shapiro also throws around the word "pacifist" pretty loosely in his article. Apparently in the Shapiro Family Dictionary, a pacifist is anybody who doesn't support any war. It's a bit like virginity, I guess; once you think a war is stupid and you oppose it, you become a pacifist forever more.

Anyway it's nice to see Ben, in an article criticizing the democratic for making (effective) ad hominem attacks, he can't stop himself from using an ad hominem attack.

Chavez and Robertson

My colleague, Grumbly Muffin, wrote below on Pat Robertson and Hugo Chavez with typical restraint and insight. Why is it that the Republicans, who claim to be the "adults" when it comes to governing, always seem to be reenacting old Sylvester Stalloine/Arnold Schwarzenegger movies?

That said, I'm intrigued by the logic of Roberts words.

. . . if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it.

I just want to let you all know that I think you are trying to give me big bags of money. Yep. I am convinced that there are dozens of my readers trying to give me money.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Assassination

You've probably all heard that Pat Robertson has called for the Assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. If you haven't, you can see a video of it at Media Matters for America (but mostly for that tiny slice of hard left America).

I do understand how it's a little unsavory for a man of the cloth to be calling for the assassination of Mr. Chavez. But the truth is that Chavez is an enemy of the United States. He HATES America and he HATES Americans.

Osama bin Ladin killed 3,000 people from a cave in Afghanistan. Venezuela is a lot closer and a lot more wealthy (thanks to an accident of geography). Now of course I'm not calling for his assassination - but I do think such a course of action is one of many that our foreign policy apparatus should consider. Protecting America has always included some unsavory actions.

People are not Crocodiles

Good morning all! : )

Just finished reading another "Muslim menace" article by Cal Thomas. Apparently Arabs are crocodiles, and like crocodiles they will not stop until the eat us no matter how many chickens (land) we give them. So that's nice.

Don't believe me? Read Mr. Thomas's words for yourself. But of course I know you all believe me.

They are all crocodiles. Tossing pieces of "chicken" in their direction will never satisfy them. They want it all. They say so, and their actions prove they are serious.

Except that people are not crocodiles. And I don't know exactly what Mr. Thomas wants to do about the Arab world, but it can't be good. I mean if you think other people are crocodiles there's no reason to be nice to them, ever. You cage them up or you cut them down, don't you?

And we all know how the Republicans feel about protecting animal species.

Monday Mail Bag

Well I have a hangover.

Gartish the Warthog from Gamma 3 flew in last night. Some kind of conference today. Anyway we go out on the town. That guy can drink like he was three people. And of course I had to keep up with him. We ended up hitting like five bars and a sushi joint. And this morning Gartish was up at 7:30 whistling.

I hate Gartish.

That's what happens when you get to be an old lobster like me, you spend nights with people you hate because it's better than clacking your claws alone.

Anyway I don't really hate Gartish; I just have a hangover.

There's not much to respond to. Got another bunch of comments from Random Goblin that continue to be well thought out. Heres one, responding to some discrepancy that Rush Limbaugh uttered.

It's always fun when people try to deny things that are matter of record.

He's right it is fun. But it works sometimes. Particularly in the short term. It's just a matter of conviction - you have to put in your voice the conviction that what you say is the truth and there is no possible way that reality could be anything other than what you say it.

I've never been able to master it myself, but I know people who can.

Also continuing our international tour of people asking me for money, here's some guy from Russia. His name is Alexei Zakharenko[Mr]. I don't know how to pronounce [Mr] at the end of a word like that. I'd know what to say if it was at the beginning, but at the end and in brackets? I just don't know. Anyway apparently he's embezzled a lot of money, and he wants my help investing it.

As a personal consultant to him, authority was handed over to me in transfer of money of an American oil merchant for his last oil deal with my boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Already the funds have left the shore of Russia to an European private bank where the final crediting is expected to be carried out. While I was on the process, My Boss got arrested for his involvement in politics . . .

I have to say I strongly support the arresting of anybody involved in politics.

Also geographically, could you explain how money leaves the "shores" of Russia to end up in an "European Private Bank?" I'm no geographer, but surly such money could travel overland? Unless you are talking about Britain or Iceland I suppose.

Anyway I'm going to go lay down for a bit - Gartish's conference will be over soon and apparently we are going to a dinner theater, where they will be butchering both cows and "The King and I." I'm so excited.

He heads back home tomorrow, so next week I should be more my evervescent self.

Further Proof of the Liberal Media

Here's how an article on Cindy Sheehan and Camp Casey, and a counter demonstration opens, written by Angela K. Brown, and distributed by the Associated Press.

A patriotic camp with a "God Bless Our President!" banner sprung up downtown Saturday, countering the anti-war demonstration started by a fallen soldier's mother two weeks ago near President Bush's ranch.

See how liberally biased this is? It fails to mention that the Anti War Demon-stration is made up of people who hate America and hate soldiers. It fails to note that Cindy Sheehan has already met with President Bush and is a crazed liberal activist. About the only think this little snippet gets right is describing Fort Qualls as "patriotic." That's a little subtle though - stupid people may not realize that this automatically implies that the people at Camp Casey are the opposite of patriotic.

When will we rid ourselves of this insane liberal Media???

Changes

We are making some changes to the website today - for one thing, we, at long last, appear to have successfully succeeded in installing an Atom Feed. This has long been a dream of mine - and I finally succeeded in doing it, I think. Anybody who can confirm this, please do thou so.

The Site Feed is here --> http://feeds.feedburner.com/MakeMeACommentator

Also we are going to redo the look of this website once more - I like this look, but it does not allow one to link to individual posts - instead each link goes to that week, which is not very satisfactory. So I am going to change it a bit.

Also we are going to open, in honor of this new switcharoo, the Make Me a Commentator Blog Heading Gallery, but that might take a few days.

Loyalty

Jeff Jacoby's latest column is about Trent Lott's forthcoming memoir. Lott, an old style conservative, is apparently still miffed at how the Republican Party removed him from power after some unfortunate comments at a memorial honoring Strom Thurmond. There are three versions of this story.

1. Mean spirited Democrats hounded Trent Lott until he was forced to leave his position as majority leader.

2. Honest good hearted Republicans, shocked by Lott's Comments, worked successfully to remove him from power.

3. Cynical Republicans, frustrated with Trent Lott and seeking power for themselves, worked to remove Lott from power.

You will be surprised to know that I think answer three is the most correct answer. Oh, sure there were a lot of mean spirited and hypocritical Democrats sharpening the long knives for Lott. And there were some Republicans who were justifiable shocked at his comments. But the real reason a great man like Trent Lott was removed from power was that SOMEBODY ELSE WANTED THAT POWER.

And, say, who has that power now? Oh that's right, it's BILL FRIST.

Jacoby's article is, of course, a defense of the status quo. Lott has been out of power for a couple of years now, and Frist has been in charge. He certainly doesn't want to reopen old wounds within the party.

But in this case, I think it's more a case of RIGHTING OLD WRONGS. The party can't give Lott his position of power back; but it can acknowledge their own cynical motives rather than continuing to ascribe racism to Lott for his innocent but unfortunate comments.

New Format!!!

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend. : )

Here there's nothing too exciting to report - except the standard new formt and new quote. This quote is from some downer 80's group that Bryant likes. Anyway hope you are all doing great!