DaveTown

Or else operatives from Adidas have slipped hallucinogenics in their water supply:

Here On The Island – by Lewis Napper – A Scholarly Critique of the Style, Symbolism and Sociopolitical Relevance of Gilligan’s Island

Dave at Oklahoma Lefty gets it right:

“Let’s establish a couple of things here…both the Left and the Right have a dirty and bloody past. This is a simple fact of history and it’s not worth either denying or trying to turn into a battle cry. Doing so is simplistic and ignorant. Sadly though, the polemics on both sides generally could care less about pesky little things like historical accuracy or holistic / big picture outlooks.

The simple fact of the matter is, that if either the Right or the Left were left unchecked and to their own devices, the result would be horrendous. Things like authoritarianism and totalitarianism couldn’t give two shits about Left and Right. All they care about is power. And if you think for a second that both the modern Right and the modern Left aren’t filled with people [having] authoritarian and totalitarian tendencies then you are just a blind fool.”

The Easter Sermon of St. John Chrysostom

Let us all, for Lent, do our usual analyzing of politics and current events, but (and this is the hard part) without ascribing motives to individuals.

For example, if the President, or Rush Limbaugh, or Simon Cowell (insert your favorite villain here) says something, try your hardest not to assume his intentions are evil and that he is trying single-handedly to bring down Western Civilization. Instead, use the energy you save by not hating him to thoughtfully analyze the substance of what he has said, and to come up with a reasonable alternative.

Let me know how it works.

From the blog Glib and Superficial comes the theory that each denomination has its own Santa, as well as the following characteristics of said Santas:

• Catholic Santa brings toys to all the little girls and boys who wrote letters to Mrs. Claus, because her appeals to Santa are particularly efficacious.

• You never know to whom Anglican Santa will bring toys, because he suffers from multiple personality disorder. But Anglican Santa always wears the coolest Santa suit.

• Pentecostal Santa delivers a great abundance of truly inspired toys. Sadly, they make no sense to anyone else.

• Presbyterian Santa delivers presents based on his own inscrutable election, and not on account of any merit; but niceness is evidence that the person is one of the Elect, so we do expect to see presents going to the nice — but only because they’re elect, not because they’re nice.

• Fundamentalist Santa stays home on Christmas, because toys are of the Devil. Besides, he knows that all children are totally naughty and deserve only coal.

• Society of Friends Santa sits passively in his sleigh on Christmas Eve, waiting quietly for the Holy Spirit to inspire him to deliver toys.

• Baptist Santa delivers only commemorative plates on which are depicted actual toys, because good little Baptist girls and boys don’t believe in the real presents of Santa.

• Episcopal Santa is a lesbian trapped inside a man’s body. He delivers no toys at all, but leaves pledge cards for the Save the Whales Foundation.

• Conservative Lutheran Santa warns the children not to accept toys from other Santas because he is the one true Santa.

• Liberal Lutheran Santa issues a statement apologizing for his past complicity in the injustices of private toy distribution, and urges government control of toy production and distribution.

• Muslim Santa? Well, just don’t let him park his sleigh too close to your house.

As if to prove my point about the high concentration of stupidity in Congress, here is a story about a bill concerning a government takeover of college football.

Are these really the people we want to entrust with legislation concerning health care and global warming?

The highest concentration of stupidity in this country, apart from Congress, can be found in the comments section of the website of any major metropolitan newspaper.

Emotional: the most overused word in all of sports commentary.

Nancy Pelosi thinks people who oppose ObamaCare are Un-American. Sure some of those folks are repellent and rude, but is it Un-American to be mad at your government? Really?

Harry Reid thinks people who are against Obamacare are Evil-Mongers. Is it evil to disagree with with your government? Really?

The cops in California refer to someone who goes around hanging up political posters as a “suspect”. Is it really a crime to show your dissent with pictures and words? Really?

Meet the new boss – same as the old boss.

Here’s what I see happening: Opponents are quoting specific pages and lines, giving concrete examples of parts of the bill they object to. The President is trying to stifle debate and the Speaker of the House engaging in ad hominem arguments and slander. The bill is over 1,000 pages, and its proponents just want us to accept it without debate. That in itself tells me the bill must be defeated.

Wheter, and to what degree, nationalized medicine is a good idea doesn’t even enter into it at this point. Just the fact that a complicated bill is being crammed down our throats is enough. The same goes for the Climate Change legislation. A bill that complicated which is rushed into law is inherently an unwise law.

The believers in miracles accept them (rightly or wrongly) because they have evidence for them. The disbelievers in miracles deny them (rightly or wrongly) because they have a doctrine against them.

– G.K. Chesterton

“When push comes to shove and the stakes are perceived threats to national survival vs. freedom, history points to the truth that human beings will nearly always sell their liberty to the first tyrant who offers them bread at the cost of chains.

And there are always philosophers around to explain why it’s the right thing to do.”

– Mark P. Shea

“To get to the truth of the matter, we should first set down wherein we agree and wherein we disagree with our opponents.”

– Thomas Aquinas

My 14 year old daughter’s review of the new Star Trek:

“So, so, completely beast. Oh my gosh. So completely better than any of the Star Wars movies, 10 times over. . . now I have to go watch the original TV show.”

(note: “beast” = “good”)

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

–Pericles

I’m not a conservative, as the phrase is currently understood, as not even conservatives agree on what it means. If it means, as it certainly seems to me, giving lip service to Christians and small-government advocates while simultaneously treading upon the constitution with muddy golf shoes, then count me out. I’m certainly dead set against aligning myself with the Republican Party, which is a joke – almost a parody of itself.

I’m not a liberal, as the phrase is currently understood, because it seems to me that modern American liberalism stands for nothing beyond a philosophy of postmodern materialism and a policy of accumulation of power. The Democratic Party? Please. The Democratic Party died with President Kennedy in Dallas and Dr. King in Memphis.

What is the label for someone who believes in the following things:

• The federal government should be limited to doing those things specifically authorized to it in the Constitution.
• Sanctity of Life applies to people in prison as well as babies in utero.
• The War on Drugs is as big a scourge on society as drug abuse and addiction.
• Free markets are a prerequisite to a free society (you know, the real kind, the kind that doesn’t have any room for corporate welfare, federal micromanagement, protectionism, turning a blind eye to fraud, making it nearly impossible for small businesses to survive, and tax-driven social engineering).
• All Ten Amendments should be taken seriously by all three branches of government (including the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 9th, and 10th, all of which seem to be in trouble, if not functionally dead).
• Traditional notions of sexual morality make the most sense, and the sexual revolution has not made society better. But, really, we should all get back to the days of minding our own business on these things.
• Assuming evil motives and making ad hominem arguments is not the same thing as intelligent public discourse on serious issues affecting society. In fact what passes for public discourse these days does far more harm than good. It generates hatred and contempt; it is incapable of leading to thoughtful consideration.
• Some things are way too important to be run by politicians. Health Care and Education spring immediately to mind.

I reject the label libertarian, though I once embraced it. Lots of good libertarians out there, but too many kooks as well. Classical Liberal is probably the most accurate, but hardly anyone knows what the phrase refers to.

I suppose I could just accept that I don’t have a label for what I believe, and align myself with all the other people who don’t have a label, and then when there are enough of us, we can label ourselves Nolabeltariancratapublicans.

Yeah, I’m going with that.

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