Some ideas seem so smart at the time… Remember the SX-70 Land Camera? Unfold the darned thing, snap a picture, and Good Lord, the color photograph the camera would spit out like a plastic tongue developed in front of your eyes. Amazing. Not too many years into things, Edwin Land decided the same body of logic could be applied to movies, as well. All you | Read More »
That latest tsunami in a saucer– the NPR kerfuffle and their back-handing of Juan Williams– is one of the most jaw-dropping incidents of how far down the road America has gone in losing its language. How anything Williams said can even remotely be mistaken for racist or bigoted is bizzaro-land stuff. Obviously, the words "bigot" and "racist" have no objective definition any more. Words used | Read More »
The estimable hanky-wringer, Mr. DeWayne Wickham, emerged from a Sob Brothers Lodge Meeting held the other night at the White House, snuffling that poor old Obama was suffering from that age-old malady that presidents often get when they get stuck cowering in their bunkers overlong: Unsightly Whimpering. According to DeWayne, it seems these loathsome Republicans are ganging up on our poor young President. Worse, there | Read More »
After many months of training, after many years of great political hardship, the Conservative, Tea Party, and Republican Americans are all assembled. We’ve huddled, poured over maps, dug deep into strategy and tactics. We have queued up to run for all manner of elective office in massive numbers. We’ve been enraged, and engaged, as never before. Now, the battle nearly joined, we await expectantly, excitedly, | Read More »
Every historical event has its Cliff’s Notes narrative: The Depression was caused by the Stock Market Crash of October, ’29. The Civil War started with the attack on Fort Sumter. Abner Doubleday invented Baseball in Cooperstown, New York, etc., etc. The latest installment of these tenuous bits of fictive laziness is “the Crash of ’08 was caused by the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown”. Much as I | Read More »
Y’all might have received a telephone call back in April that went something like this: "Hello? Is this Robert Undershirt?" "Yes, this is he," "Mr. Undershirt, my name is Maggie, and I am calling tonight on behalf of the Citizens for a Safe Hillville ," You, of course, are a denizen of HIllville that goes back tens of years. So, you listen with rapt attention, | Read More »
So, the champagne corks are a-poppin, the red, white and blue balloons have all wafted down from the rafters, the patriotic bunting is surreptiously clinging to high heels, and the results seem clear: It is the wee hours of the morning of November 3rd, 2010. The Republicans have won a staggering majority in the United States House of Representatives, picking up some 67 seats. Likewise, | Read More »
There is a reason that conservatives revere our heritage, why we hold our Constitution to be inviolate and sacred, why we are such namby-pambies about the words we invoke: We have a radical love for our fellow human beings, we have deep, abiding awe for those that have fought and died for these traditions. And we take the covenantial aspects of a "pledge" to be | Read More »
They say that Generals are “always fighting the last war”. After all, it’s the prudent thing to do– and it’s the Conventional Wisdom. I will add an addendum to this: “Generals are always fighting the last war–but, at least they’re fighting it”. A good example of this was that, after Norman Schwarzkopf landed in the sands of Araby in prelude to fighting the Iraqi Army | Read More »
From the New York Times, Wednesday, November 3, 2010 America’s Brats and the WWE-ing of America -By Frank Rich It’s an easy metaphor to say that America threw a temper tantrum last night. While that is clearly the case, I think there is something much more infantile, much more insidious afoot in American politics, and President Barack Obama had better size this up quickly, or | Read More »
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