Go See A Good Movie Instead

The following is a paragraph by paragraph analysis of the following CNN article, which I have reproduced in it's entirety. The article is in italics, while my response is in normal font.

The political spotlight will shine on Sens. John McCain and Barack
Obama on Saturday night when the two candidates are expected to face
tough questions on personal values, presidential leadership and
international affairs.

Questions aren't tough when you petty much know what to expect and have time to prepare for them.

The Rev. Rick Warren, author of the best-seller "The Purpose-Driven
Life," will spend an hour interviewing each candidate at his
20,000-member Saddleback mega-church in Southern California.

An hour? How tough can it be? All McCain needs to do is put on a fresh pair of Depnz and he's good to go. Obama can take up half that time with a few well-placed "uhhh's" and "ahhh's".

On CNN's "The Situation Room" earlier this week, Warren said he won't
play the role of a political pundit or ask "gotcha" questions, but
rather tackle four areas of interest: the role of the presidency in
government, leadership, the candidates' worldviews and America's role
internationally.

Is he kidding? Expecting a straight answer about anything out of these two is a "got'cha" question.

The Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency will be carried on CNN TV and CNN.com/Live.
It will be the last time the two candidates share the same stage before
their parties' conventions. Three debates between the two are scheduled
after the conventions.

And I bet'cha a dollar to a doughnut all three of them will be just like this one-a gag fest, in two different ways. It will be unique though to see something that is a sickening laugh-riot.

Warren said he's focused on asking both presumptive nominees questions that "don't have a lot wiggle room."

The lack of wiggle room will be mainly from the amount of time these two spend hugging and kissing each other during their "debate". This will look more like an old married couple engaging in a little spat over a few things, and then giving each other hurt looks before they reassure each other of the unequivocal respect each has for the other.

"But I do want to know how they handle a crisis, because a lot of the
things in the presidency often deal with things you don't know are
going to happen, that we don't know will happen in the next four years.
... There are a lot of different things you can deal with in the life
of a leader that will tell us more about the candidate than some of the
typical questions," he said

Handle a crisis? Oh, the problem isn't going to be how they handle a crisis. The question will be how will all the rest of us handle the crisis of either one of these two in charge of the country.

Warren said he won't endorse either candidate and will let his followers make up their minds.

Wow. How nice of him to "let" his followers do that.

The stakes will be especially high for McCain, who has made a strong
appeal this year to social conservatives and evangelical Christians.

A long time ago, there used to be a daytime serial called "Dark Shadows", which at one time featured a room that led to a parallel universe where all the characters led entirely different lives. Who knew such a room as that actually existed at CNN headquarters?

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, taken July 27-29, showed that
among white, born-again or evangelical voters, 67 percent are for
McCain, with 24 percent for Obama.

Although it's a strong
showing for McCain, he's lagging 11 percentage points behind President
Bush in the 2004 election. Exit polls show that Bush beat Sen. John
Kerry 78 percent to 21 percent among these voters.

McCain is not going to make up that entire seven percent, though he might make up most of it. Still, if he can't make up the difference with independents and Hillary Democrats, he is toast.

Asked whether McCain has an advantage with evangelicals, Warren said
he's not going to predict how the influential religious group will vote.

Okay, then, I will. He will not pull nowhere near the percentage George W. Bush did in 2004. If he is lucky-I mean, really, really, lucky-he might pull what Bush pulled in 2000, but I seriously doubt it. He will probably get close to that though. The remainder will either stay home of vote a third party ticket, either Bob Barr or Chuck Baldwin.

He added, "I can tell you this: They're not a monolithic bloc, as the
press frequently tries to make them out to be. I think that for many
evangelicals, they're not convinced that either of these men is an
evangelical. They may be believers in Christ, they may be Christian,
but they want to know, for instance, their worldview. And they want to
hear it out."

I would imagine that most of them have already made up their mind, and their not likely to hear anything from either of these two that will change it.

But even as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
-- who was thought to have locked up the evangelical vote given his
background as a Baptist minister -- made a strong showing in the GOP
primaries this year, McCain was pulling in a substantial number of
evangelical votes.

Of course the real story is that Huckabbee continued to pull a significant number of evangelical votes after he dropped out of the race and McCain was the presumptive nominee.

McCain, who was raised an Episcopalian and now identifies himself as Baptist, rarely discusses his faith.

No wonder. He "converted" to the Baptist faith right at the beginning of Republican primary season after he met with Jerry Falwell. I would rarely discuss it myself if I were him.

"I'm unashamed and unembarrassed about my deep faith in God. But I do
not obviously try to impose my views on others," McCain said in April.

So, what is he saying? Since he does not "obviously try to impose" his views, does that mean he tries to do it subtly? What a dipshit.

Since then, the senator from Arizona has met with many of the
evangelical leaders who did not support his candidacy during the
primary season. At a private meeting this summer, dozens of the
movement's most prominent figures voted to support his campaign.

Of course that don't mean the rank and file church members will vote for him, any more than labor bosses support for Carter and then Mondale kept the rank-and-file labor members from voting for Reagan.

While the two candidates are taking questions from Warren, a daylong
assembly of evangelicals will be wrapping up at the other end of the
country.

Huckabee and the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins are among
speakers and musical acts appearing before what the
cross-denominational group TheCall describes as a day of fasting and
prayer on the National Mall in Washington.

While organizers said the rally isn't a political event, it will address values issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

Huckabee is probably after the VP nod, but while he brings in the social conservatives, he damages McCain's support with the economic conservatives. On the other hand, hell, McCain is damaged goods with that group as well.

By some accounts, both campaigns' grass-roots efforts to rally the conservative Christian base have lagged recently.

That tells you a lot.They probably lag behind with the Skinheads and Trotskyists as well.

Meanwhile, Obama's positions in favor of abortion rights and same-sex
civil unions also have created tension among evangelical voters
otherwise drawn to his candidacy.

Oh come on. He's a Democrat. Of course he's going to support those things. If that is the only reason for the "tension" they haven't been paying that much attention over the last three decades. What are they going to tense up over next, his refusal to support school prayer? Duh-

But the Democrat, who is Christian, has made it a point to discuss his religion
on the trail this year and launched an ambitious outreach effort
targeting these voters, including private summits with pastors and a
major campaign aimed at young evangelicals.

He's playing for economic concerns and angst over the war, and a few other things like energy, Global Warming, and health care issues. Bush and the Republcians have screwed things up enough he can peel off some voters by appealing to these concerns. That's all he cares about, inducing just enough bleeding on the Republican side to make a difference. He is not about to adopt the Republican Party platform on social issues.

And Obama's
evangelical supporters, including members of the new Matthew 25 Network
political action committee, rallied around the Democrat in June when
Christian conservative James Dobson accused him of "deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible."

I don't like Dobson, I think he's an egotistical pompous ass, but facts are facts. You can interpret something the way it is written, or you can interpret it to say whatever you want it to say. Kind of like the constitution. People insinuating themselves into positions of influence can go on to "interpret" something to mean what they want it to mean, but others will interpet it for what it plainly says. Seems pretty obvious to me.

False rumors that Obama is a Muslim threaten to undermine support from key voting blocs such as evangelicals and Catholics.

Wrong. The people that believe those rumors would not vote for Obama if they had never heard them uttered. However, what might kill him is a very credible rumor pertaining to his support for a Marxist cousin in Kenya who has campaigned in part on applying Sharia Law. I don't know how much of this is true or false, but in any case it could be what sinks him, in part, if he does lose in November.

Jesse Might Get Those Nuts Yet

Jesse Jackson might not speak at this year’s Democratic National Convention, which would end a streak of convention speeches stretching back to 1984. That was the year he castrated Walter Mondale. He’s done his part in every convention since then, but since he announced his intentions so publicly on Fox News, everybody is a bit wary of him.

According to one unnamed source-

“Okay, now let’s face it, we all respect the Reverend Jackson, and appreciate his many considerable accomplishments, but it gets a little tiring having to walk around watching your nuts 24/7. It is that elephant in the room no one wants to talk about. No one wants to tell the guy, ‘can we please have your knife, Reverend Jackson?’ I mean, something like this was bound to happen eventually."

A slated Massachusetts delegate was even more explicit.

“He terrorized poor Mike Dukakis in 1988. I mean, Mike is a little guy anyway, and you know how they are so insecure about their size. The idea of somebody cutting off his nuts was just incredibly stressful to him, especially with that Greek macho thing eating away at him.”

It would also appear that the Reverend Jackson has deep pockets, and a long reach. According to an elderly female Arkansas delegate-

“Bill Clinton was afraid to get a blowjob during the convention and it was about to drive him crazy. When he realized I had dentures he paid me ten thousand dollars during each convention to service his needs, and we have been fast friends ever since. I mean, I don’t think anybody here would take money from Reverend Jackson to bite somebody nuts off, but you never can tell. Stranger things have happened, I guess.”

Bill Clinton’s narrow escapes from castration, however, have been the exception. According to a Nashville delegate-

“When Al kissed Tipper at the 2000 convention, we knew it was an act, of course. It says a lot about Al Gore’s personal character and integrity that he was able to put on such a brave face after Jesse got through with him. But, at least now you know the reason for the weight gain.”

A delegate from Boston, however, shared perhaps the saddest story of all-

“Kerry tried his damndest to get around Jesse’s determination. He had his staff leak stories about how he got his nuts shot off in Vietnam, and this was why he did not want to release his military records to the press. Jesse was too smart to fall for it though. Whatever you think about Jesse Jackson, when he sets his mind to getting hold of your nuts, you can kiss them goodbye.”

Expressed a convention coordinator-

“We’ve tried every appeal to reason we can think of. We reminded Jesse that our convention this year in Denver is supposed to be green and environmentally friendly, and that cutting a man’s nuts off is just not conducive to reducing mankind’s carbon footprint. He just laughed that weird little laugh of his when his eyes get all glazed over. Well, to be fair it didn’t make a lot of sense, so I tried to remind him that the Democratic Party is the party of peace and prosperity, but by that time I think I’d already lost him.”

“Barak Obama is in dire danger,” said one Illinois delegate. “He is perfectly within his rights to ban Jesse from the convention, given the circumstances, and Jackson’s history. The problem remains, how do we keep him out altogether? I just don’t see how we can do it.”

Jesse is particularly perturbed at the notion that Hilary Clinton intends to put her name in nomination at the convention.

“What if she wins the nomination after all?” someone asked him.

“I’ll cut that bitches nuts off,” he reportedly replied.

Mused one New York delegate-

“I bet he’ll do it too.”

Monster

Once upon a time there lived a man who was from the moment of birth so hideously deformed and monstrously disabled he eventually reached such a stage of bitterness and hatred he no longer wanted to live, but was determined to kill somebody before he left this world.

Unfortunately, although he managed to find a cheap gun in his neighbor's apartment, he could only manage to find two bullets. Deciding he would kill one person and then himself, he slowly and with great, excruciating pain tempered only by the slow and steady drip of the pain killers and antibiotics he was obliged to continually take intravenously, he dragged his medicinal apparatus with him out into the streets.

He soon found himself attracted to the sound of people assembled down the street, and realized some public event was going on. Perfect, he decided, as he made his way slowly, and painfully, in that direction.

As he made his way down that way, so horrible was his appearance that strong men quivered with shame and revulsion, and women feinted. One enterprising soul threw a grapefruit at the hideous man and laughed at him.

"Hey, what horror movie did you escape from?" he shouted to the delight of his vulgar drunken friends.

Unperturbed, he pressed on, until soon he saw the assembled crowds appearing in front of where two men spoke at what he saw by the sign was a "debate".

One man was a tall, relatively young black man. The other was some old white haired geezer.

The man pressed on, even though it caused him great pain. His one useless leg drug and so he had to be careful to lift it as he walked, and his one good arm, the one not shriveled into a useless appendage that never grew from birth, struggled mightily to maneuver the intravenous device he was obliged to carry with him the rest of his life.

As he made his way closer, he saw perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. So strikingly beautiful and alluringly dressed was she, in fact, that his mutilated half penis got hard, just briefly enough to cause him excruciating pain, and he moaned in agony, until the woman saw him and, catching on to his predicament, though intoxicated, groaned, "Ugh, I don't think so Frankenstein."

He pressed on, determined to finally get his revenge, and as he approached the stage, everybody faded in horror at the sight of the man with the ripped up face and grossly misshapen head-

All that is, save the two men on the stage who looked at the pitiful man with unbridled curiosity. Even though the Secret Service Agents were sickened at the repulsive sight, the two men ignored their whispered urgings and made their way toward the unfortunate man.

"Hi, I'm Barak Obama," said the young black man, "and if you vote for me I will see you have the best health care available. I will see that the government provides it to you free of charge, because it is your right."

"I'm John McCain," said the older man, "and if you vote for me I will see that the private sector has the government off its back so it can grow and prosper and invest in the new kinds of technologies to cure you at any affordable cost."

Suddenly, the man groaned and screamed, although, lacking a tongue since childbirth, he was unable to say a word. Suddenly, he came out with a gun and pointed it at first one candidate, and then another. He was unsure of which candidate to shoot, and they were aware of his dilemma.

"He's only got one bullet for one of us, and probably one for him, I bet," McCain mused.

"Oh boy, I guess one of us is a goner, unless we can think of something fast," Barak replied. "Our Secret Service protection either passed out or ran away when they got a look at this guy. So what do we do now?"

Before either one could act, however, the man simply drew the gun and, putting it to his head, he pulled the trigger, leaving Barak and McCain to stare at each other in shock and confusion. Suddenly, it dawned on them.

"Oh, I get it now," McCain said-

"He's an abortion survivor."

The Lord's Bountiful Blessings And Bullshit Like That

The ministry of Joel Osteen can best be summed up as-

*Be good
*Send us money
*God will bless you with riches

This might well be a viable part of the message of Christianity, but only as a small part of it. To be fair, I think Osteen has said as much, but this is the focus of his particular ministry, now widely known as “the prosperity gospel”.

If you attend the Osteens mega church, Lakewood Church in Houston, where he and wife Victoria are co-pastors, don’t expect to hear any harsh words or rhetoric of condemnation for the sins of modern man. Jesus loves you-that’s all you need to know. Well, that and you should have faith and live positively.

Well, it looks as though Victoria Osteen is possibly destined to share her portion of the Lord’s bounty in a way she never counted on. She is now embroiled in a lawsuit filed by an airline attendant who accuses her of physical assault, as well as racism, and is after a hefty portion of the Osteen fortune, in punitive and compensatory damages.

Because of Osteen, she claims, she has “lost her faith”. As if that were not enough, she now suffers from-wait for it-

Hemorrhoids!

The only legitimate complaint the woman has, as I see it now, is the assault. The racism charge is based on Osteen’s insistence that she speak to one particular flight attendant, the one white out of the three available. The problem arose from an alleged stain on the armrest of Osteen’s seat. Somewhere along the way, a verbal altercation ensued and Osteen elbowed the woman in the breast. She also earlier paid a fine for, as the airline explained, “interfering with a flight crew”.

The Osteens' willingness to quickly pay the fine (to put it behind them, according to the Osteens' attorney) is, according to the woman’s lawyer, proof of guilt. Well, like I said, she might-might-have some grounds based on the assault charge, but the others I have serious reservations about.

Osteen’s insistence on speaking to the one lone flight attendant is not provable racism. And if it is, so what? Did she call the woman a nigger? Did she tell her “I don’t want your help you black ape, I want a white person?” If something along these lines didn’t occur, then I see no grounds for a legal finding of racism, and certainly not for a monetary settlement based on such a charge.

It is especially worth noting that the woman's lawyer actually used a racist point as a key element of his case. Check out this doozy-

McKamie then called psychiatrist Shayna Lee, who said black women interpret confrontation and others' actions differently than other races and genders.


Uhhmm, well then-

She goes on to insist that, thanks to Mrs. Osteen, she has lost her faith. Well, is she sure about that? Maybe she just misplaced it somewhere. I suggest she look in all her pockets, or possibly under the cushions of her sofa. Aircraft baggage handlers are notorious for losing luggage, maybe it’s their fault. Oh, that’s right, she wasn’t a passenger, she was a flight attendant. Well then, hey, here’s a thought-maybe it’s her own fault she lost it.

The hemorrhoid charge is too ridiculous for comment. Let’s just say I don’t want to go there.

The one legitimate charge of assault should have been quickly and easily settled, but hey, why herd a cash cow into the barn before it is through grazing? Osteen does not look good here at all, but the plaintiff looks like a gold digger. Yet, the true criminal is the judge who agreed to hear this crazy case as is when he should have thrown it out of court, after insisting on a settlement for the one legitimate claim, or at the very least insisting on dropping the more absurd ones.

Thanks to Danielle, who attends Lakewood Church, for bringing this story to my attention. Danielle, if you are giving these people money, I hope at least one of them kissed you first.

Why You Should Watch The Olympics

The Olympics are not about China, nor for that matter the US, Russian, Georgia, or Iraq. True, we try to turn them into all that, and describe participating athletes as “representatives” of the nations that send them. Ideally, however, the Olympics transcend politics, and are better viewed as a showcase for individual talent, determination, and initiative, despite the fact that, ironically, most Olympic athletes, as a rule, see their own selves as representatives of their particular nations, and are inspired by that concept to represent their country to the best of their abilities. Of course, we don't tune in to hear the national anthems or for national history lessons, do we?

I personally don’t care that much which “nation” wins an event. Okay, if an American athlete wins the gold, sure, that’s great. Even in that case, however, the most important thing to me is the athlete and his or her own individual story of success and triumph, oftentimes in the face of adversity. The nation of origin is irrelevant.

I am inspired by the man who might set a new record for gold medals in swimming. His coach, the former great Olympian Mark Spitz, won seven. He might win eight.

I am inspired by the 39 year old mother who is set to compete in the women's swim team after an eight year absence.

Both of these athletes are Americans, but their stories would be no less inspiring were they Zimbabweans or Venezuelans.

I am not impressed by calls to boycott the Olympics based on China’s atrocious human rights record. If you go along with that, then you are actually giving the Chinese what they want. You are, in effect, making the Olympics not about the talented, hard working individual athletes who put their talent, their blood, sweat, and tears into their efforts, but instead you are joining China in making the Olympics all about China.

I feel the same way over Carter’s past boycott of the Moscow Olympics over mainly their invasion of Afghanistan. In reality, there were more valid reasons to boycott the Olympics at that time, reasons that predate that particular episode of history. Russia’s alleged penchant for cheating and bribing judges, if true, is one example. There is also the very obvious and proven fact that the Soviet Union actually funded and trained athletes that were not amateurs, as the rules at that time called for, but professional level athletes.

These may or may not have been valid reasons to boycott not only the Moscow Olympics, but any Olympics in which the Soviets, and for that matter most Soviet bloc countries, were participants. The Soviets’ invasion of Afghanistan was not a valid reason. People that insist it was, or that China's human rights record is a valid reason to boycott them now, do not seem to understand the concept behind the Olympics. If every nation in the world acted in a way deemed appropriate, and everybody got along, the Olympics would just be another international event. They were in fact originated to foster international understanding, on the grounds that this might lead in time to increased dialogue, contact and, eventually, greater international cooperation.

The original Olympics held in ancient Greece were of course the inspiration for this concept. Every four years, all of the various Greek city-states would send athletes to participate in a series of competitions. It was as much a religious event as anything. Zeus, Hermes, Heracles, and Apollo were considered sacred patrons of the games. In these far less civilized times, men actually died competing in some of these events, particularly the grueling and comparatively brutal boxing and wrestling competitions. It was, in a sense, an evolution of the concept of human sacrifice, much as the Roman gladiatorial contests that came a few centuries later.

Not only did the ancient Greeks consider the games sacred, participation was all but mandatory, even during times of war. City-states actually put their hostilities on hold in order to attend these events. The last event was a race in which contestants ran in full body armor, which signaled the end of the games and a return to normalcy-meaning whatever war might be taking place at the time could take up where it left off.

I am sure there is a lot of things that happened back then we could never hope to know about with any degree of certainty. I have no doubt that, despite the outwardly religious nature of the events, spies from the various city-states attended the games with the intention of gathering information, doubtless even paying for the inside knowledge they might gain. They might well have employed temple prostitutes to this end.

The Greek city-states were not all peaceful, freedom loving entities-if in fact any of them were. Some of these places were quite repressive. Sparta is the most obvious example. Though their republic was hailed in its day as an example to aspire to insofar as the rights of Spartan citizens were concerned, the way they treated the Helots, a non-Spartan ethnic group who lived in their area, would have made a tried-and-true Nazi prison guard blush. The Helots were actually the majority population and outnumbered the Spartans by at least ten-to-one, making Sparta one of the worlds first and certainly in its time the greatest apartheid nation.

They were a menace to the peace and prosperity of the Greek city-states in general. Yet, no one ever entertained the notion of boycotting the Olympics as a protest against Spartan atrocities or their unjust policies. They attended the games as a sacred duty.

Of course, there is no such sacred duty to attend these modern Olympics, but there is at the same time no true rationale for boycotting them based on a dislike of the policies of a participating nation-even if that particular nation happens to be the host nation. We might quibble as to how it came about that the IOC granted them this signal honor, and we might well disapprove of the IOC’s actions and policies in a good many other instances as well.

On the other hand, this is the best time to put politics aside. Screw the countries and the politicians. Let’s enjoy the games, and honor those who in good faith push the limits of human endurance in displaying their talents and training. They are the inspiration as to what human beings can achieve. Politicians and the interest groups that call for these boycotts are inspirations for nothing but tearing down what the rest of us dream and aspire to build. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

Some people criticize Bush for attending, some rather loudly. I see no problem with Bush attending the games. Who knows, maybe Clinton is there somewhere around Beijing, participating in the world class Bedroom Pole Vault event. The bottom line is, China is probably going to be the economic, political, and military heavyweight of the 21st century. Boycotting the Olympics will not change that prospect one iota. The most it would accomplish is drive a bigger wedge of hostility between them and their detractors, which would be ill-advised and unnecessary.

I earlier watched a volleyball match between the Americans and the Latvians. The Americans were seeded number two out of a group of twenty-eight participants. The Latvians were number twenty-seven. The Latvians beat the Americans in what amounted to a staggering upset. Second from last beats the number two seed. You don’t see that every day. One of the Americans, a young man named Dolhauser, was a former would-be tennis player who was convinced with no small effort to take up volleyball.

One of the Latvians was a former would-be basketball player who was convinced to take up volleyball.

Although I watched this today, I think it was taped, and might have occurred prior to the murder of an American by a deranged man who went on to commit suicide. The man and his wife, who was also seriously injured, were connected to the women’s volleyball team. I think their daughter is one of the team members, and the coach of the men's team was, I think, an in-law of the murdered man.

I am wondering if the assailant might have lost his home in the course of construction for the event. The only thing the Chinese are saying is that the man was homeless. If so, that is certainly a black mark on the Chinese. The man should have been compensated, assuming this was the case, and this is an example of how the international community can step in and demand that appropriate steps be taken in the course of future such events to insure fair compensation.

Yes, things can always be better than what they are, and the IOC can and should do a much better job in demanding accountability from host countries in return for the privilege of hosting these events. Otherwise, it is not just the host country that suffers, but the whole concept of the Olympics and what they are supposed to stand for suffers a black eye.

Nevertheless, if you are a sports fan, at least, you owe it to yourself to watch these Olympics, not for the sake of the countries and their so-called leaders, but to draw inspiration from the actual human beings that take part in them. They are the real stories. The countries and their political intrigues and drama are mere window dressing.

In real life, they are unfortunately necessary to at least a point, and I have no doubt they always will be. The Olympics was, as I said at the beginning, originally conceived to encourage greater international cooperation among nations. I think at this stage, however, the Olympics can make a greater contribution by striving to transcend such pretensions.

A Political Aristocrat Gets His Comeuppance

Kwazie Kilpatrick's troubles started when he lied in a civil case about an affair he was having, which opened him up to his current charges of perjury. The terms of his bond imposed travel restrictions, which he must have felt he could ignore with impunity, so long as he could make a claim of traveling for business reasons. Further proof of his arrogance is that he could probably have easily gotten permission for the travel in question to Canada, but evidently never made the attempt. He just did it.

Of course, there's more to the story than just that, and Kilpatrick might have yet other charges to answer to. From the Tribune story-

The Michigan State Police are investigating charges that Kilpatrick assaulted a deputy sheriff trying to serve a subpoena last month


So what is this guy's problem? I tend to think what follows might provide somewhat of a clue.

Kilpatrick's mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, was almost toppled this week because of the scandal surrounding her son. The six-term congresswoman eked out a narrow win in Tuesday's primary election, against two opponents.

So, he comes from a political family, and represents the second generation of a would-be political dynasty, a la Bush, Kennedy, Taft, etc. In other words, here is a guy that was raised with the attitude that he was "born to lead", or, to put it bluntly, that he is privileged. What we have here is a case of political aristocracy at work, and the unavoidable consequences of it.

District Court Judge Roland Giles sentenced him to jail, saying he couldn't justify doing otherwise. Of course, the guy could be up for reelection himself. If he had not been, there's a good chance he would have come up with some line about how sending Kilpatrick to jail would be "a black eye to the reputation of the great city of Detroit" or some such rubbish.

Whatever the case, I think we can safely write finis to this guy's political career. Why is it that it takes a sex scandal to get rid of crooked office holders? If he had perjured himself over taking a few bribes chances are he would be the Chairman of Obama's Detroit campaign committee right now and nobody outside of Detroit would really know anything about this guy.

Of course some voters in some places seem to keep finding reasons to send the same decrepit and corrupt politicians back year after year, so give the people of Detroit at least some credit for not giving this guy a free pass, which is the real reason the judge did not give him a get out of jail free card.

Democracy does put a little bit of fear into office holders, but only when the people pay attention, and actually give a damn.

The International Medellin Cartel

Jose Ernesto Medellin, who at the age of eighteen participated in the gang rapes and murder of two teenage girls, ages 14 and 16, was put to death Tuesday, over the stern objections of the International Court of Justice, the Mexican government, and the Bush Administration, the latter of whom, represented by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Attorney General Michael Mukasey, appealed to Texas Governor Rik Perry to delay the execution. Perry refused.

The Bush Administration earlier ordered the execution halted and the case reopened based on a finding that Medellin had not been provided access to representation from the Mexican consulate. This is in violation of the Vienna Conventions, to which the US is a signatory.

Texas appealed the executive decision, and the Supreme Court overturned it by a vote of 5-4 (surprise, surprise). The reason-the treaty was never passed into law by the Congress, therefore the Bush Administration had no legal grounds to stop the execution.

International treaties such as this presume to force the US government to speak for all the states, which is fine in regards to bi-lateral treaties, but when it comes to multi-national treaties, such as the Vienna Convention in question, it proves problematic.

I have no doubt there now will be a push in Congress to pass the treaty, and it will probably be passed by the next Congress.

States, however, should retain their autonomous status as much as possible. Of course, a foreign national should have right to counsel from his consulate, but this was not about the pursuit of justice, it was all about opposition to the death penalty. If this technical problem had not arisen, they would still have objected to his execution. This just provided a convenient excuse to do so, and I'm glad Rick Perry had the stones to tell Bush where to stick it, and that the Supreme Court had the integrity to stand by him.

The Feds can't even come up with a common sense energy policy, why should they presume to force their will, to say nothing of the will of the international community, on the individual states?

Paris Hilton-Oh Yeah, And Those Morons We Have To Choose Between

Let's not get carried away with the "genius" of Paris Hilton's energy plan. Not that it's not impressive. What it shows more than anything, is that a blonde heiress from a privileged billionaire family, who never graduated from high school, and who has lived the not-so-simple sheltered life, all of her life, is more in tune with the average American than the two motherfucking numb skulls running for President for the two major parties.

Everybody knows it too. Rumored GOP VP contender Tim Pawlenty expresses agreement with her.


Others are beside themselves trying to discourage any serious consideration to her plan for "off-shore drilling with environmental oversight" while we wait on new technologies to kick in.

The Christian Science Monitor says she "has it backwards". I kid you not. A major newspaper, on their on-line "Green Blog", is attacking Paris Hilton's energy plan, insisting that-

So in short, the Hilton Plan seems to have it backward: Even under fairly conservative estimates we have the ability to develop more fuel-efficient technology before we can access all the oil that’s offshore.

You know it's getting bad when a fucking leftist rag and its troop of chimps stoops to hurling its propaganda feces at the likes of Paris Hilton.

Paris ended her video from Funny Or Die with a killer line-see you at the debate bitches.

And her plan is taken seriously, some attacking it and some praising it, while some of her detractors criticize her for "memorizing" the speech before she made it.

Wow, if there was ever any doubt she is not "ready to lead", that would prove it right there, huh? Who ever heard of a fucking politician memorizing a speech before they actually deliver it? Is nothing sacred? Doesn't Paris know you're supposed to read your speech from a teleprompter?

Memorize my ass, with just a little more practice she could probably rip both of these moronic ass-wipes to shreds in a "debate".

What the fuck is next? Can we look forward to Britney Spears coming out with a plan to save our education system? Why the hell couldn't she, the stupid motherfuckers in charge of it sure haven't done much good, not with it, and not with much of anything else.

Ok let's look at this point rationally. You have one man who is so far to the left if the world was flat he would have fallen off the edge years ago, and you have his opponent who never misses an opportunity to attack his own base of supporters. Seriously, that's why Paris made this video to begin with. John McCain attacked a member-Paris-of a family-the Hiltons-that are among his wealthiest contributors. What will the Alzheimer's patient-in-waiting do for an encore, share some dog meat with his former Vietnamese captors?

Paris Hilton went on to get her GED after she was kicked out of the private, exclusive high school she attended in junior college. She has gone on to parlay her family influence into making paid appearances promoting clubs, making second rate (at best) music videos, and lending her name to clothing lines and fragrances. In between, she has shown her pussy to eager paparazzi, spent time in jail, and appeared in a number of forgettable films and a tv reality series. And all of this started with a privately filmed sex tape made public by an ex-boyfriend.

Despite all this, she's managed to turn the two major presidential contenders into public laughing stocks. Good on her.

Novel Ideas

Just thought I'd add a thought about my recent editing dramas and traumas. I think I caught on to something. You probably know how people say that really good novels have things you might have missed the first time around, and if you go back and read it again, you find something you didn't notice before? Well, editing is the key.

When I first started writing my novel, I hurried through the first ten chapters or so, and then settled into a routine of sorts with the rest. In the editing, I went back and fleshed out those first ten chapters to the extent they bear little resemblance to the originals. There are also entirely new chapters.

The fleshing out in the editing process gives you the opportunity to add little teasers and clues that might well turn into that "wow, I missed that the first time."
A dark blue Lexus with tinted windshields wouldn't attract much attention the first time around,nor maybe the second time if it's far enough down the line, and you might have forgotten it by the time the illicit affair is unveiled. But, if you go back and read it the second time you say, "oh yeah, that's who she was with the whole time."

Other things ain't so subtle. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but if you have a gang of creeps break into your funeral home while everybody is away, and there is a family mausoleum in the basement, wouldn't it be pretty obvious they might take the corpses out and scatter them around the house in various sick poses?

Yeah, I know it's not Shakespeare, but then again, Shakespeare wasn't blessed with a sick sense of humor.

Browser Add-Ons

Yeah, I've been indisposed the last few days. There's been too much shit going on that I would as soon not have to deal with, but couldn't avoid it. Plus, I've been engaged in editing my novel. Plus, it's been miserably hot.

Finally, I decide to do a post, and I turn to my Scribefire, type the post, and get ready to include a link, when what to my wandering eye should appear but, no fucking link icon.

See, I have this theory. People that work at these jobs for these people that make these browsers are always expected to "do something". Otherwise, they can't justify their paychecks. So, they tinker. And, they tinker, And, they tinker some more. Almost half of the time they spend tinkering is unnecessary, but tinker they must, and far too often, it adds up to something ending up badly fucked up.

Well, I'm dropping Scribefire. Justify that, pricks.

By the way, if you really want to drive Firefox crazy, and probably every other advertising driven site as well, download a little add-on called Propel. You'll have to Google it, because the homepage is blocked, even though I originally got it as a Firefox extension. I also have it through my local isp. If you are on dial-up, it is indispensable. I'm not sure whether it works on anything besides that, or even if it would be necessary, but it's great for dial-up. I think it works by filtering your pages through their site, much like Macros. Well, not nearly that fast, but Macros is a pain in the ass, which is a whole other story.

Firefox no longer offers Propel, and in fact discourages it, in fact, because it "doesn't offer secure updates", or some such drivel. Translation-their fucking advertisers don't like it because you can block their fucking ads and pop-ups.

Anyway, hopefully I'll have something worthwhile to blog about here in a day or two.

My One Thousandth Post (Finally) With F(Un)FAQ's

Well, here I am at post number one thousand, and I don’t know quite what to say, other than, what took me so fucking long? I’ve had this blog going now since May of 2005. I posted a lot more frequently, if not as well, in those early days, so at the rate I’m currently going I figure I might hit post number 2000 by the time the Mayan calendar ends it’s cycle, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. After all, whether the Mayans are wrong, and maybe even if they’re right, that farm might come in handy.

When I first started this blog, it was with the intention that people would actually read the thing. But, after three years and two and a half months, I have yet to reach the five thousand mark in reader views according to my profile page, and on an average day, I will not hit one hundred readers a day, even when I include the times I link on. The most readers I ever had was something over 300, which was a one time thing, and there have been three or four times I’ve soared over two hundred. I’m no even sure I remember now what all the fuss was about. It is not that uncommon for me to hit well over the hundred mark, but less than that unfortunately seems to be even more common.

On an up note, I’m almost sure Lindsey Lohan has read my blog, which may or may not be a good thing. Well, somebody from Westwood California came from the same unregistered isp and read the same Lohan post four days in a row, so who’s to say? If that is you, Lindsey, stop stealing folk’s fur coats, buy your own.

I was linked once by CNN. Don’t remember the post.

When I first got started, I remember thinking, hey, I need to come up with a snazzy name that is memorable and will come up in the search engines. Since I am a privately practicing pagan, who practices what I call, for lack of a better term, Hellenic Wicca, I decided on what I now see as the presumptuous The Pagan Temple. I think of it now as presumptuous not for the Pagan, of course, nor even so much for the Temple, but, simply put, for the “The”. I think I might take it off. After all, I don’t mean to infer that I speak for all pagans, when of course I obviously don’t.

I remember that when I started out, I didn’t even do the typical and usually obligatory introductory post. I just hit the ground running with two posts about two then current issues of the day. One was about the work of the U2 singer Bono, the other about the then still missing Groene children from Idaho, whom I postulated might have been victimized by a Nazi fringe group at one time prominent in their area, and who might have been sold into sex slavery as a means of paying off a drug debt. Of course, it turned out to be far from accurate, so why link it?

This blog typically has little to do with paganism or witchcraft, though I try to post on those subjects on a fairly regular basis in one form or another. I think probably I would be better off doing more of that kind of thing, as well as other things I enjoy, such as musings on cultural and entertainment stories, and less of stuff that piss me the hell off, such as politics, government policy, and political correctness-but damn, I can’t seem to help myself.

Some of my favorite posts are the satirical ones, which I have listed in the sidebar under the heading “Ancient Rites and Rants (And Immortal Bullshit)” there under the picture of the Norse God Loki transforming into an eagle. Also there and elsewhere are other posts where I give my thoughts on subjects of an historical nature-or in the case of my Sodom and Gomorrah posts, the lack of historicity in mythological stories that are generally presumed to be historical.

Another of my favorite posts, also satirical, are my “Guest Bloggers” which are of course meant to be over-the-top denunciations, ripped off from the days headlines, more or less, as seen through the eyes of fictitious personages. Well, fictitious that is unless you consider Baphomet the Demon a real personage.

So, where do I go from here? I guess I could give some indication as to what directions I am heading.

F(Un)FAQ’s

Will you endorse a presidential candidate?

Probably not. One, I am not satisfied with either major candidate. Plus, I am just absolutely loathe to see the Democratic Party have any more power and influence than it already has as long as it is dominated by its left wing. Unfortunately, John McCain is not exactly a bulwark against increasingly incremental socialistic policies. He represents, as far as I’m concerned, the worse not only of the Republican Party, but a good deal of the worse of the Democratic Party as well.

In other words, the gods sent John McCain to this earth for the sole and exclusive purpose of pissing me the fuck off.

Two, I think I can be a better and more honest observer and interpreter if I stay objective and unaffiliated. It is harder to criticize somebody when you have painted yourself in his or her corner.

Three, and most importantly-what difference does it make? Me endorsing a candidate and thinking it’s going to make a dime’s worth of difference would be like me pissing in the ocean and thinking I’m going to make the sea level rise.

Have you changed any since you started blogging?

Yeppers, especially politically. I used to be a left-of-center moderate, and in some cases a flaming liberal, depending on the issue. Now, I’m a right-of-center moderate and seem to be becoming more conservative as time goes on. It’s probably due to reading more and paying more attention to what’s really going on and having less of an inclination to excuse the inexcusable for the sake of group cohesion.

When it comes to workers rights, wages, and benefits, however, I’ll always be a leftie. Social issues are of secondary importance, as in the end a conservative-a true conservative-point of view suggests that government should stay out of people’s lives and bedrooms insofar as consenting adults are concerned.

When it comes to religious rights, of course I stand for the legitimate rights of the practitioners of all religions within the framework of the law. Don’t castrate your eight year old daughter, or fuck her, or treat her or your wife like a piece of shit because you have it in your head some god gave you that right, and I probably don’t have a problem with you.

A special hint-pagans-honest to gods true pagans-worship goddesses as well as gods and tend to look unkindly on any who treat women badly, and look particularly askance toward brutal rag head bullshit. Any who don’t see it that way, well, sorry, their “paganism” is selective and leaves a lot to be desired. Opposition to the “evil” George W. Boooooooooosh is not an excuse.

A second special hint-the preceding was not intended as a slam at all followers of Islam, most of who are probably decent people who treat their wives and daughters probably very well. In fact, they probably put them on a pedestal, if anything. They just mainly have an oddly eastern way of showing their esteem.

Otherwise, whatever you do is fine with me as long as you don’t try to force it down mine or anybody else’s throat, and especially as long as you don’t try to control the government to that end.

If you want to tell me I’m going to hell for my beliefs, then, sigh, I guess you have the right-just use that right judiciously. When I walk away from you, take that as a hint not to follow along behind me, especially to my house. I’m good with a gun too.

I guess I should point out something else here that should by now be painfully obvious. Although they would seem to be in the majority, not all pagans are liberal pacifists and/or environmental extremists and/or ultra-feminists and/or LGBT Act Up activists and/or socialistic utopians who take their cue from “elders” who manifest unto them through a fog of nineteen sixties pot haze and patchouli. There are a growing body of us who are libertarian and conservative, and though I don’t always side with them (in fact I have gotten into some pretty good rows with them, especially the Libertarians), I trend increasingly in their direction.

But are you fair in your assessments of everybody?

Hell yes, I tell it like I see it.

So, do you have any predictions for the future?

I’m not much on predicting the future. I will go out on a limb though and say that I think Lindsey Lohan will eventually gain recognition as one of the all time great actresses and will display a remarkable poise, elegance, intelligence, beauty, and natural talent that will make her one of the all time great respected personalities of our or any day and time.

Aren’t you kind of a sexist?

Yes

But how does that square with your statement about respect for women and worshipping goddesses?

Errrr, I like to fuck.

If you were truly a religious pagan, shouldn’t you promote peace? You do believe in peace, don’t you?

I sure do. That’s why when anybody starts some shit I think we should blast them back to the Bronze Age as quickly as possible.

What do you actually believe about the deities? Do you think they are real, or do you think they are personifications of nature, or do you think they are really all various manifestations of the same one or two deities, or do you believe they are archetypes?

All of the above, but for my own personal use, the archetype thing seems to work best for me. Really though, there is truth in all approaches, and I mean that literally, not symbolically. You can’t understand that if you try to see it through a finite understanding of nature, though, you have to look beyond that. It’s all tied in to mankind’s and the universe’s own evolutionary development. I can’t explain it any better than that. Suffice it to say atheism and monotheism are also equally valid concepts.

Would you raise your children to be pagans?

I don’t have any children, unless you’re counting the billions I’ve flushed down the toilet or put through the wash and rinse cycle when I do my sheets. Well, there’s a few thousand I haven’t gotten to yet, dried up on the crotch of my jeans.

Okay, but if you had children, would you raise them to be pagans?

Nope, I’d raise them to be good people to the best of my ability and encourage them to find their own paths, which they would be welcome to pursue once they were grown and out of the house. I haven’t got the time to try to undo the foolish shit people tend to put in kid’s heads. Unfortunately for every bit of good they might learn, which I can teach myself, there’s an equal amount of bad I don’t want to have to try, probably futilely, to excise from their psyches.

Do you believe in heaven or in hell as literal places?

I believe they are both something you create within your own psyche and you carry them with you once you leave this life. It’s not real in the sense of being a literal place with a geographical location as such, but it is real in the sense that a dream seems real while you are asleep and dreaming. Your emotions and attitudes that you carry with you though life is like the brick and mortar by which you build these places within your subconscious. They are eternal in the sense that, once you leave this life, you are stuck with what you have spent that life constructing for yourself. You can’t add or subtract to it at that point, for the simple fact you are by then lacking in the physical brain cells necessary to create and store new thoughts and memories. You are nothing but a form of mental and emotional energy, and as energy can neither be created nor destroyed, you are pretty much what you are at that point. Of course, it might fade over time and disperse throughout the universe-possibly after a period of years, months, weeks, days, minutes, or even seconds. However, just like a dream seems to go on forever-well, you get the point, I guess.

So how does that square with reincarnation?

I’m not sure I believe in reincarnation. I tend to think it happens, but rarely, and when it does-if it does-it’s a natural process based probably on an overwhelming desire to go on living. Karma has probably little to do with it, though past actions would probably influence the next life’s attitudes and inner desires and fears. Wiccans tend to take the opposite approach from Buddhists and most Hindus, who see it as something to avoid, to the point they spend what seems to me an inordinate amount of time trying to transcend the “cycle of rebirth”. Most Wiccans tend to think it is something to embrace, and as such teach living in positive ways to insure a good life upon return. I’m not so sure that makes a lot of sense to me, and I’m not sure either approach is more or less valid than the other. I think you should mainly concentrate on this life, on living in moderation and as good as you can live it to the best of your ability. Let the end sort itself out. You’ll get there eventually, wherever you’re going-if anywhere.

Do you believe in magic and witchcraft?

Yep. Been there, done that, just too lazy to do it on a regular basis. It works too, but not like most people conceive of it. It works mainly as a form of self-hypnosis, though there are other important factors as well having to do possibly with quantum physics. An effective ritual will empower you to go about accomplishing what you set out to accomplish in such a way you don’t have to give it that much thought. It eliminates a lot of the inner drudgery, angst, and other negativities that gets in your way, and you find yourself arriving at where you need to be, sometimes unexpectedly. In other words, it’s more psychological and emotional, and not at all “supernatural”, which is an unreal concept to begin with. Movies and television do a real disservice in their portrayals of magic and witchcraft as concepts that are more fantasy than real.

Do you believe in the Law of Three?

Yes. The term might be a bit simplistic, but the overall Golden Rule/Karma concept of the belief is valid. Again, it is not “supernatural”, but a natural consequence of negative actions and thoughts. No deity points his or her finger from on high to “punish” you for your actions. What happens is that by engaging in negative actions, you poison your own psyche and energy. You imbue your own personal power with a negativity that actually never leaves you from that point unless and until you cleanse and purify yourself. As such, if you extend your energy in a way that is harmful toward another person, while you may succeed in harming that person, or taking advantage of the person in some way that is damaging to him or her, the damage you do to your own self is exponentially greater. That is simply because it is and remains a permanent part of your energy and psyche, and wreaks a degree of havoc measurable according to the energy you put into the initial act.

There are many who deny the legitimacy of this concept in the pagan community, but their attitudes are, as far as I’m concerned, self-serving and maybe even a hypocritical and delusional bit of wishful thinking. They have a ways to go. I suggest a revisit to Paganism 101. While they are at it, Living Life 101 might be an even better idea.

So, where do you go from here? Do you want to join a coven?

Only if I’m the boss.

So, where do you go from here with your blog?

I don’t have the slightest idea. That’s half the fun of doing it.

Blue Pagans, Red Meat

A new blog by two pagans is called Blue Pagan, and it aims to chronicle the time leading up to and including the presence of these two pagan bloggers from Maine at this years Democratic National Convention in Denver, where they have been granted press credentials.

One of them is Rita Moran, a Maine bookstore owner who was outed and stalked by a conservative Christian group, and so determined to live openly as a pagan and Maine Democratic Party official. (I forget her exact title).

Ed Lachowicz is the other team member of the blog, and another Maine based Democratic Party activist.

I include this blog on my blogroll for the same reason I would include a "Red Pagan" (be that Republican or communist) blog if there were one-not out of support, but as a matter of presumed general interest.

My own personal agenda-not that I will ever have a snowball's chance in hell of ever seeing it become reality-is for all political parties to be outlawed and the government at the federal level limit itself to adhering to the powers granted it by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and otherwise keeping the fuck out of everybody's lives.

As for Ed and Rita, I would like to think they are going to use their press credentials in order to perform actual journalistic work, as opposed to devoting their time and talents to being Obama/Democratic Party cheerleaders. I am not hopeful.

Hey, Rita and Ed, I have a great idea for you. Why not stage a ritual where, after imbuing an American flag with personal power, on live television, you burn it in a ritual designed to release that energy in "positive" ways.

Don't explain what you are doing, though, as long-winded explanations tend to limit the effectiveness of ritual. Just do it, and wave those athames proudly in the air for all to see that you are proud Democratic Party Pagans.

Weather permitting, I'm going fishing on election day.

Save Our Cupcake Trees

Fuck you Swarzenneggar

Fortunately, some bakeries and restaurants in Kaley-Forney-Ya have already made the transition to non-trans fats substitutes, such as palm oil, soy, etc., and claim the product is just as tasty. The others though have until 2010 to comply, and can be fined up to a thousand dollars for every second time and beyond they are not in compliance. The first time the fine is a measly twenty five dollars, which will probably be about the price of one of these cupcakes by about, oh, 2010.

The people that voted for Ahnuld thought they were getting the TERRRMINNAATTOOORRR RAAAUUUGGGHHH who was going to destroy the evil tax and spend nanny state mentality of the California Legislature.

Instead they got a kindergarten cop. What the hell did they expect? Every night when he goes to bed a Kennedy has him by the balls.

He Was Here But Ye Knew Him Not

Question-was the person in the photo below the long-awaited Jewish Messiah? Could be. Of course, I would understand the reluctance many might have at accepting such an audacious claim. After all, he doesn't exactly have "hair as wool", to paraphrase the words of one of the Old Testament prophets who described the predicted Messiah.

Well, then again-

Come on, Jews, get to work rebuilding the Temple. Sure, the Islamic world would get pissed off, and so would a lot of the rest of the world, but hey, like the Messiah himself might say-

Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.

John Edwards Cheats On Cancer-Stricken Wife And Thirty Million Plus Gay Americans

From the National Enquirer-

If true, this is good news for the Democrats, as what it means is John Edwards will probably be denied a chance to fuck up a second Democratic Party presidential campaign.

On the other hand, he is probably now definitely on the short list to run the Justice Department under any future Democratic Administration.

CitiBank-Life Happened While It Was Busy Making Other (Shady) Plans

CitiBankl has just posted losses of more than two billion dollars, which wasn't as bad as expected, while now expecting a housing slump of about two years duration.

In other words, collectively speaking, we might be lucky, if this is true. So, what happened?

A lot of people are trying to blame it on the feds for forcing lenders to loan money to minorities, which is a lot of crap. News flash-nobody is forcing anybody to loan outrageous sums of money to people that are credit risks based on race. The law is meant to insure nobody is turned down for a loan specifically due to their race. The idea that this is even part of the problem presupposes a lack of qualified loan recipients among the minority community, and is a canard at best to disguise shady business practices.

What happened was orchestrated by greedy lenders to create an artificial housing bubble. It was based on the supposition that they could grant sub-prime mortgages to folks of questionable financial stability at best, and when they failed to make their payments when the rates rose, they could foreclose and sell to somebody else at a profit. Then, they could say, oh well, we tried.

Unfortunately, a lot of problems coalesced to turn this little scheme into a debacle. The most obvious problem that no one stopped to consider was the sudden surge in energy prices-the latest manufactured crisis orchestrated by big business hoodlums and their political dingleberries.

Suddenly, there became an ever shrinking pool of potential middle-class buyers willing to pay for a house at quadruple the price that same house would have fetched twenty years ago. Times suddenly worsened for everybody, and the lenders were left holding their dicks. The rest of us were too busy worrying about how we would make ends meet in the face of rising prices for food and energy during a period of constant layoffs and the myriads of other problems and expenses of day to day living.

Suddenly, a Subaru looks a lot better than a Suburban, while a smaller and cheaper home, or the one you might already have, or the apartment you don't have to insure, looks a hell of a lot better than an over-sized MacMansion or any other home worth four times it's original value.

People never learn from such mistakes of the past like the nineties tech bubble, I guess, but damn, when are people going to stop falling for shit like this? I mean, really, how fucking stupid can you get?

Welcome To America

I'm betting there aren't very many countries in the world that conduct yearly mass swearings-in of newly naturalized citizens who have immigrated from foreign countries. I would say they are a relative handful, limited to the US, Canada, Australia, and maybe a few places in Europe. Most of the places in Europe probably amount to transported immigrant Muslims who aren't so much attracted by the appeal of Europe so much as a chance to either work and live in peace, or to escape criminal prosecution and in some cases oppression, and maybe in the meantime to carry on with their lives exactly as they would if not forced to leave their homelands for whatever reason, thank you very much. I seriously doubt that very many of them are that taken with European culture and democracy.

Supposedly, most of the people that come to the US see us as a shining beacon of liberty, and hope to become a part of the American dream, while understandably hoping to retain their unique cultural heritage at the same time, not separate from the rest of us, but as a vital and interdependent part of that whole.

Well, the most recent batch of new citizens sworn in by President Bush at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello this last Fourth of July got a taste of the American dream they probably hadn't counted on when protesters from the group Code Pink interrupted the proceedings and heckled Bush throughout his address, repeatedly saying "Fuck you, Bush".

Who was the coordinator of this effort? Read the following, courtesy of Lee from Digital Nicotine-

a bunch of supposed adults kept yelling "Fuck you, Bush! Fuck you Bush!" among a bunch of people expecting to celebrate newly-gained citizenship. One of these supposed adults was the press secretary to Rep. Dennis Kucinich in his latest run for the presidency.

I couldn't believe it myself, so I followed the link provided to here, and sure enough, there it was. Yet, these same people seem amazed they are the only ones that seem to know what a great guy Dennis Kucinich is.

That is actually the good point to this story, the fact that the loony left, typified by the people responsible for this sorry excuse for a "protest", really don't have that much influence with the American people, and not really as much as one might assume they do with the Democratic Party either. If they did, the Little Smurf From Cleveland would have done much better in the primaries, wouldn't he?

They just make a lot of noise, disgust the hell out of decent people, and provide fodder for the enemies of the Democratic Party, who unfortunately don't seem to have the guts to actually tell them to get lost. Instead of doing so, even Obama kisses up to them up to a point.

I would dearly love to see them go over to Egypt and try this with Hosni Mubarek.

Really, what was the point of the protest? We get it, they are against the Iraq War-mainly because it is a "Republican war", in my opinion. Frankly, the Iraq War has turned into just another hot button issue like abortion and gay rights to me. If I do vote, those issues will not inform my decision one way or another, neither for nor against.

That's my own protest against these damn nuts. It's my way of telling them "I don't care enough about (insert controversy of the day here) to vote your way. Leave me alone."

Really, these people have no common decency. I used to not like Bush at all, but I like him and Cheney both just a little bit more every year. In fact, if they could run for re-election this year, and did, I might well vote for them, just because of these people.

Why should newly sworn-in citizens have to be subjected to this crap? It boggles the mind that these fools even think they are influencing anybody. What is the use of protesting if all you do is turn people against you? I have yet to have anybody offer me a sensible explanation for that.

And they are turning people against them. They disgust people and make far more enemies than they make friends. I'm living proof of that.

On the other hand, that might well be the best thing about it.

The Wages Of Sin For You Wicked, Wicked Women

So, what is going to happen to all you haughty, wicked women that talk back to your husbands, who mock them and leave the house without your husband's or father's or son's or other decent, responsible male relative's permission?

Well, as we plainly see here in this fifteenth century Persian painting, courtesy of Zombietime, of Mohammad, astride the mythical creature Buraq and in the company of the Archangel Gabriel-

YOU WILL BURN IN HELL FOR ETERNITY WHILE HANGING BY YOUR PIERCED TONGUES, BEEEYATCHES!!

Hey, Where Are Obama's Daughters, Off Studying Das Kapital?

Hell, the only thing missing is the crack pipe and the boom box. I have a relative who actually thinks, or at least so she said, that an Obama White House-or "Whitey House", as I have heard others say-would be a never-ending party.

Of course this cartoon is funny.

What is beyond belief is that many on the far right have lauded the cover as "perceptive", while many of Obama's supporters complain about it. Yet, it is the far right being made fun of here, while the left should appreciate the joke.

In the meantime, the New Yorker publisher has taken on the persona of Johnny Carson, one of my all-time favorite comedians, by taking the time and going to the trouble to "explain" his failed joke. Carson salvaged some real bombs that way and made them funnier in many cases than they actually were.

No one should have to explain this one, it should be self-evident. America has been hijacked by the lunatic fringe, and I don't see it getting better any time soon. When people lose their sense of humor, they have no business being involved in public policy. I would go so far as to say they are dangerous.

I tried to explain to my female relative that, regardless of what you think of Obama, he would be unlikely, to say the least, to conduct himself in the manner she described.

You don't really imagine I changed her mind do you? Do you think I bothered to try after the first time?

Nope. All you can do is laugh. Although I did put The New Yorker back on the Myth-ing links section.

An Unexpected Blast From The Past

Last night, quite by accident, I discovered this website, which contained the above picture of my great-great-grandfather, Ira Wells Sr, whom some of my older readers might well recall me writing about in this post.

I can't really say he looks that much like me, but strangely he does look quite a bit like I always imagined he'd look. He was a unique individual, regardless of the veracity of the witchcraft stories, which might well have been more legend than fact.

I'm really glad I found this. Back in the days this picture would have been taken, people tended not to smile in photographs. They were afraid their descendants would see them and, if they were smiling or laughing, would think they were "foolish". A serious expression and public manner at all times was the order of the day.

Can you imagine what they would think if they could see some of the pictures people pose for today?