With Regard to Katrina--

Shouldn't Falwell and Robertson be going on the air any time now to tell us about how this was God's will and how New Orleans had it coming because of its sinful, wicked ways? Come on, guys, we're waiting for you to show us once again what kind of lunatic bigots you are...

Howdy

Haven't blogged in a really long time--personal issues and crises continue to abound and confound, and I find myself distracted by 'real life' much more than I would normally choose. For God's sake, I went into academia so I could specifically avoid dealing with practicality and arguing with people who were alive. Ah well, no rest for the wicked, among whom I suppose I must number myself, as I have not kept the 4th commandment (that's the Sabbath Day-remembering one) in roughly my whole life. Also, I swear a lot, though apparently many Biblical scholars believe that "taking the Lord's name in vain" applied only to its use in misrepresenting God's desires or intentions, in violating oaths made in His name, and in performing magic. So in that case, Goddammit, I'm cool.

Meanwhile, Pat Robertson is not, since he seems to do nothing but tell us what God wants, and apparently now--if Pat's position as a minister of the Lord is to be believed, and if, while on the air, he speaks 'ex cathedra' as it were--God wants us to whack a foreign dignitary. Interesting, Pat; tell us more.

Actually, the God of the OT might endorse just such a move on his nation's behalf--but the nation in question would be Israel, not the U.S.--and the God of the NT would just sigh and smack Robertson a quick one across the mouth, giving him advanced leprosy in the process. And rightly so.

Sigh. Whenever someone tells you that God wants someone else dead--THEY'RE LYING. It's that simple. Good night, and good luck.

Love This

Just a brief note, and one that's making the rounds on the web anyway, so you've probably seen it already, but what the hell, just in case. Paul Hackett is a U.S. Marine who served in Iraq and then, upon returning home, ran as a Democrat in a special election for a congressional seat in Ohio--I think it was the 3rd district, but don't quote me on that because I'm too lazy to fact check. Anyway, he lost, but it was in some respects a moral victory because the district is heavily Republican, he entered the race at the last minute, his challenger started out many double-digit points ahead, and in the election, he lost by much less than 10% of the vote, which stunned most pundits.


Anyway, because he was a returning Iraqi combatant, and because he dared to run as a Democrat, the race got more national attention than might otherwise have been the case, so much so that Rush Limbaugh felt obliged to comment on Maj. Hackett, whom he repeatedly referred to as "a staff puke" (Maj. Hackett was a civil affairs officer, but had, in fact, led several combat missions while over there), and who he claimed had gone to Iraq to "pad his resume" in anticipation of a Congressional run. Such comments are beneath my contempt, but not that of Maj. Hackett, who, when confronted with them, responded with breaktaking candor and concision:


That's typical for that fatass drug addict to come up with something like that.


And so, I now love Maj. Paul Hackett. Love him. And I hear Limbaugh's catching serious heat for bad-mouthing a veteran with an honorable service record. But to be fair to Limbaugh, he was probably high when he said all that. Heh.

Still Pretty Bad...

...on this end, so this will have to be a quickie.

First, the fact that Peter Jennings died does not help. Only news anchor I trusted after Cronkite retired. Mainly because he always had this look in his eye, as the news became more distorted and propogandized and fluffed over the years, as if he was saying to us, "Can you believe the ridiculous s*** that I'm about to say--I mean, can you believe these people?" Nothing over the top, but it was enough to let you know that he was in on the joke, and you felt better knowing that yes, this was an orchestrated circus, and you weren't going mad. I also think John Stewart--who now is possibly the only other news anchor I trust, and isn't that sad--studied Jennings a lot before going on-camera. He's come into his own style now, but you watch those early episodes of The Daily Show, and his "set-up" delivery is pure Jennings. And when you've got John Stewart's stamp of approval, you know you're good. I liked Jennings a lot. It sucks, and it sucks that we live in a world where his generation is being replaced by folks like Matt Lauer, as blow-dried a mouth-breather as there ever was...

Second, thank God the Shuttle got down safely. This mission had duct-tape and crossed-fingers written all over it, and I hated listening to every minute of it. They shouldn't have gone up. The Apollo people never would have said, "Eh, she's mostly flight-worthy, let's give her a shot and see what happens." The scientists are not running NASA anymore--this was a publicity stunt by an Adminstration badly in need of distracting the people from its plummeting rating and incipient scandals. Which means they either sent it up after lying about how not-quite-perfect the tiles were so we'd all be scared about a non-existent threat, or--God help them--they sent it up not caring whether it did or didn't come back. I hate these people. Speaking of which--

Third, Robert Novak actually managed to one-up Tom Cruise, calling James Carville's comments "bullsh*t"--which they weren't--they were a cruel but accurate interpretation of Novak's own remarks--on live television, and then pulled a Dan Rather by storming off the set at CNN, which promptly suspended his Gollum-esque ass. Which makes me smile, as he is excrement in human form. If you're gonna be mean, don't be a coward. If you're gonna be a coward, be nice. Be both, and you just become someone the world is better off without. So we'll be seeing less of Bob for a while, which is good, and which is what I'll end on.

Hiatus

Due to a pathetic personal crisis, the blog will be suspended indefinitely. Trust me, it's for the best; otherwise, it'd just be me alternating between "Bwa-hah-hah-hah-hah...Choke, Sob...Bwaaaaaah..." and "MUTHER-F*CKER" every other day. Which admittedly would be amusing at first, but the joke would get old fast. Especially when the realization hit that it wasn't a joke...