Archive for the ‘Splenetics’ Category
363 Tons
I can feel pretty jaded, worn down even, by stupendous, jaw-dropping political revelations which arrive with such machine-gun speed that there's no time or energy left for one's jaw to drop. But, this story managed it. It begins with the release of a report from Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and his Minority Office of the […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Constitutional Quiz
Which do you think is more important to protect by amending the US Constitution? "Traditional" Marriage The US Flag The Right to Vote Hint: which one have you heard the most about?
Rest Assured, Nervous Americans
Phew! White House officials acknowledged yesterday that the public's gloomy mood about the Iraq war is forcing President Bush to take a more assertive and public role to reassure nervous Americans and Republican lawmakers about the White House plan for victory. Bush had hoped the successful January elections in Iraq would boost the popularity of […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
To Be Seen as a Great Leader (BBA X)
So that we might satisfy the President's delusions of greatness (bold is mine): Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned […]
Atheistic Compulsion
I think the most frequent charge levelled at atheists by the religious, usually evangelical Christians, is that we must be immoral* people without [their] God's laws to guide us. Utter rubish, of course, but these critics are not renowned for applying the brains their God gave them. At any rate, I found the following amusing, […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Faith-Based Fear of Flying
Do People of Faith (hereafter PoFs) fly in airplanes? I would think that they'd feel faced with ever-present and fatal danger if they do. Many of us in this semi-rational, post-enlightenment age believe that airplanes are kept aloft through the thoughtful application of the predictable laws of godless, atheistic aerodynamics. We enjoy with good humor […]
Unshaved Legs
Let me be clear about one thing right up front. In a faulty analogy, one of the parties to the, um, altercation at hand asked in a snide, rhetorical way "Would you condemn the ad if it had featured Speedo-clad beefcake instead?" For my part, the idea of Speedo-clad hunks throwing pies at each other […]
Brazen & Corrupt
Sometimes it's just too challenging, over and over, coming up with properly* excoriating language to describe the current President and his Administration; there are just too many occasions that require just too many words, that mere vocabulary tends to fall short. Sometimes, too, my memory lets me down. I've had the feeling that, on the […]
In: All, Splenetics, Such Language!
Look at the Body! (BBA IX)
Okay, I've already said I'm tiring a bit about all the talking about all the not talking about the first Downing Street Memo. Now we have the excitement of a Second Downing Street Memo, not to mention the promise of Rep. Conyers' hearings to be held this week. At this point, I'd like to suggest […]
Supporting Imperial Fashion
Isaac and I rarely watch TV anymore; there just doesn't seem much point to it really. Now I think there's even less point, since apparently Driftglass watches all those tedious Sunday-morning talking-heads programs and then summarizes ("Sunday Morning Comin' Down…Redux") the results (far better than the TV Guide ever could) — at least he did […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Speaking of Science, Splenetics
No Apology Here!
It seems that Jesse Helms, the homophobe who refuses to die, has written his life story. I am beside myself with anticipation. The œuvre was given brief notice in The Washinton Post (9 June 2005, thanks to the AP), in a piece titled "Helms Apologetic on AIDS in Memoir". Woo hoo! I thought. Helms actually […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Corporate Media: Who Cares? (BBA VIII)
A shot from the Whiskey Bar ("Downing Streed Redux"): In my own screed on the subject yesterday, I should have included links to two other organizations that are working to keep the story alive — afterdowningstreet.org and the Big Brass Alliance, a coalition of lefty bloggers who are also pushing the issue with admirable intensity. […]
Just Talk About It! (BBA VII)
Is it just me, or is anyone else getting tired of the oppressively meta nature of today's political discourse? It's been months — perhaps even years — since we've just talked about some event. I mean, we used to talk about the Vietnam war, how evil Nixon was, stagflation, the Middle East, the hostages in […]
Heroic Tapirs
Jesus' General is alarmed ("Death rides a two-toned tapir") about creeping, godless secularism in the public schools of Utah, and wonders whether Utah State-Senator Buttars is going far enough to stem the tide: I was very angry when I first heard that you are introducing a bill to mandate the teaching of divine design in […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
Iraq is Anti-Marriage
When it comes to hitting nails on the head, Shakespeare's Sister ("En Gard") has a very precise aim with her hammer: I have a question for conservatives who support both the Iraq War and banning gay marriage. Can you produce one instance of a gay marriage actually undermining the sanctity of a heterosexual marriage, or […]
Red Herrings (BBA VI)
Kevin Baas, in "My conversation with a person from another world", gives us a record of an electronic exchange he had with a Bush/DSM* apologist, who is, as Mr. Baas notes, clearly from another world. My favorite part of the exchange is where the Person From Another World (or PFAW) loses his dismissive cool and […]
Anal Sibation
Pope Benedict, in his first clear pronouncement on gay marriages since his election, on Monday condemned same-sex unions as fake and expressions of "anarchic freedom" that threatened the future of the family. I was getting a little worried there: what was taking him so long! After all, he'd known for years that gay marriage was […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
More Guns = More Death
Joel Shurkin, in "The actuarial cost of gun violence in the U.S." (2 June 2005), summarizes the results of a report (yet to be published) that looks into the cost of handgun violence in the US. These are the bits of his gloss that I found the most telling. In a study to be published […]
Ode To Dick (BBA V)
In yet another instance of "how could I pass up a title like that": Compared to George W., Richard Nixon had an all consuming passion for the truth. The Watergate transcripts are basically a desperate attempt by Nixon to keep his lies straight. He was genuinely concerned about what lies he had told to whom; […]
Is the Memo Too "Reality Based"? (BBA IV)
In a remarkably lucid, detailed, and calm-voiced piece to appear in The New York Review of Books on 9 June 2005 (written 12 May 2005) called "The Secret Way to War", Mark Danner writes about the unfolding of events leading to our invasion of Iraq, and the significance of the Downing Street Memo. The [Downing […]