Crosstalk

When a Phony Calls Me a Phony....

Take note: if you support George W. Bush's takeover of the country, you are not libertarian. You are authoritarian and anti-liberty.

The Heroism Trap

Look into the eye of the propagandist and say "I do not buy your dignity-eroding approach. I do not accept you as a creator of heroes."

Wishy Washy Joel?

Principled stands in the middle often get attacked by both sides as "sell-outs" to the other side.

Why I Love Her

"You have him well trained," said a woman to Lynn.

Multiculturalism: Hinayana vs. Mahayana Ideologies

The kind of multi-culturalism that I celebrate begins with the individual.

Certainties

....it took ambivalence to be that way. I don't think I want to return to that kind of open-mindedness.

If Lucifer had a Hammer

Since when is Kevin one to complain about religious tolerance when he doesn't even acknowledge that leftist Catholics and others exist?

Abortion is Vile

You will not find me on the streets outside clinics, taunting and shaming women who come there because they have no other options. Nor will you find me on the inside of the clinic.

More on Religious Tolerance

When statements about tolerance are couched in "We won't be able to win this one without them" you send the message that what matters most is the winning of the election, not the principles.

Religious Tolerance

For all their talk about tolerance, what are Patrick and Kevin doing to support the Christian Left?

Comedy of Terrors

hostingmatters.com might well be hanging there like a trout waiting for the filletting knife.

No Little Man Required

I just got off the toilet after spending a good half hour reading the story of the first handheld calculator -- entirely mechanical.

Truth and Beauty

I answer that they exist out there and they are products of our minds which take in fragments of the world and organize a picture.

Perfection

I'm caught for a second by these words....And then I detect a pitfall: if perfection is dissatisfaction, where does happiness come in?

Does God Hate Lobster?

Eat not of the Shrimp because it is loved by Your Creator.

Take the Leap Year's Day

So, wanna share benefits?

The Week in Review

I'm probably too lost in my vicodin haze to make much sense (this is Day 3, the worst) so here is a list of pointers to what I think is the best blogging I've found over the last week.

Reagan and Prozac

Yule Heibel often writes of a future -- and a present -- where human beings have become assembly line products.

Of Clovis Points and Automobiles

The man (or woman) who chipped the stone into the shape of a pointed leaf thought of these problems that went with ensuring the kill....

The Book of Job

Candide cries to the narrative voice "But surely man who is made in the image of God --" And the narrator replies "Maybe this is His Image."

Hijacked for God?

Passengers dialed relatives, perhaps in fear that they'd booked a ticket on a Christian Identity suicide mission.

Advice for Dr. Dean and Others Victims of the Press

The trick is to keep our heads while the pundits are losing theirs. Then we will have a movement, my friends.

The Perils of Ideology

Our nation is dying: what are a People to do when they have lost control of their government?

The Challenge of the Hijab

The arrival of Muslims with their conspicuous expression of their faith is becoming the test of our commitment to the principles of religious freedom.

Photodude and A Tree Named Saddam

And you know what? I don't have to answer him. I've said enough there and here about what my position is. His distortions will be plain to anyone who reads us both carefully.

Running to Lynn's Defense
There's an angry white male attacking Lynn over at her blog who has styled her as a "manhater" and a...

Christmas: A Debate

We keep our Christmases simple in these parts, mostly because we are not blessed with children.

Hate the Parents

The theory I proposed was that two types of individuals came forward because of the publicity: those who actually suffered abuse and those who wanted the cachet of being a survivor

More than a Tempest

it is precisely because Wizbangblogs is attempting to position itself as an authority on what is good and what is bad that challenging the award category is important.

Red Son

Is it Pax Americana or Pox Americana? Are we really standing for Truth, Justice, and Freedom or just Control?

Holiday Madness

This was like throwing red meat into the midst of a pack of winter-starved wolves. It speaks about the bad economy that still troubles us.

Not fit for American Television?

Now why do you suppose that this didn't make it to the American public?

Michael Jackson

What I've missed in all the discussion about Michael Jackson is reference to his pathetic self-destruction aided and abetted by American attitudes towards people of color.

She didn't say what they wanted her to say

When David Horowitz throws together a panel, you can expect that it will consist of people who attack liberals as a class.

Kristallnacht

The breaking glass that you hear may be the shattering of a nonviolent hope for peace in Israel and Palestine.

Druggies at a Self-Con

Kathryn's experience makes me want to invent a way to induce hallucinations in the obnoxious. Like the sight of a crazed Dubya loading and aiming an assault rifle.

Tragedy of the School Commons

We've changed as a society from one where older children took an active part in teaching the younger ones to this age segregation.

sally's life of leisure

The people who discomfit me are the ones who think that their life of chosen work entitles their opinions on anything to go unchallenged.

Non-co-optation

I've made a point to frequent blogs where the material roves with the mind of the writer. I prefer not to worry about those people who can't take the fact that I think for myself and choose my own subjects. I don't make it a ritual to open the newspaper and comment everyday -- what matters most to me is charting where I am.

Bush and The Fires

For Californians, the Bush Administration's failure to pre-empt the underlying causes of the California wildfires is our World Trade Center attack.

Shooting Peasants

"I shot two peasants," said the Russian.

Solar Cloud

I remember looking at the sun through the fumaroles earlier this week while I was out walking in Whiting and seeing a couple of definite spots on the surface.

The Murdoch Machine Does it Again

I'm with Christian on this: "is it too much to ask that someone who purports to see the fucking future might have the ability to pick out one of the 364 days this year when John Ritter was not going to kick off?"

Curtains for the Light

Without the necessary check of real and accurate news from the front, this war can continue to be waged. Their hope is that there can be no check and balance by the Fourth Estate (now untrustworthy) or the rising Fifth Estate (the InterNet) on the war.

Why History Needs to be Revised

There's a dangerous myth here: that what is said once must only be repeated, never tested.

Goodbye Kiril

I hate to break a silence in this manner

Mothering and Work Among the Futurists

What a future! Can't we think of another?

Messages

If I refuse to be terrorized, what power do they have over me?

Another Perversion of Founding Thoughts

It seems to me that the CC has hit on a way to bring moneychangers into the virtual temple.

Gender Genie Feels You Out

In the wake of these revelations (more evidence that I have an enlarged clitoris), I went down the list of blogs in my daily walk. I discovered that according to Gender Genie, many people weren't what they seemed to be.

But What Are They For?

There was plenty of complaining about what elements of the Left and the Right were doing wrong -- especially the Left -- but very little talk about what these self-professed Gen Xers actually stood for, except "We've got to bring the flag back" and "We've got to fight terrorism".

An Apology Explained

I don't know exactly why Shelley found it offensive in the context of her own blatantly sexual remarks. I add that I don't require an explanation. It suffices that Shelley announced that she found it offensive, that I had crossed her boundaries of propriety.

Talking to Burningbird: Getting in Fights

Nearly any sincere blogger has encountered at least one roach: sometimes they swarm -- if someone told me that they sent email to each other to say "Hey, we've got a mark" I would believe it to be true.

Folk Revolution

I want a world where even rants, bad poetry freely posted, personal punditry, and pictures of cats can ripple forth from the fall of the smallest pebble to lick the edges of the big pond and make the reeds along the shore tremble

The Member in Question

I feel bound to defend my honor as a small time penis pundit and present you my full answer to her question How important is a big dick, anyway?

A Canon Junkie Rebuts

I'm not slapping Robert's hand saying "don't read that", but I'm reading him as insisting that I can't possibly like the canon stuff!

Diseases with no cures, just comforts

I've never been bitter about my diabetes. It's just a disease doing its thing. Being mad at it is like being mad at the rain for leaking through the roof or at the roof for getting old and letting the wind shift the shingles so that the rain can come in.

Hunting Women

Civil libertarian that I am, allowing as I do the expression of many bizarre practices as long as they do no harm to those involved, I must scream that willing or not, this harms not only the woman who runs but all women.

Dance of the Assassins

If the loathliest criminal cannot be assured a fair trial instead of a summary execution, then the highest-minded man or woman of conscience is also threatened, as is the most apathetic and law-abiding of citizens.

God Bless Who?

"God Bless America" they proclaimed as if our dead suddenly raised us over all the other countries with dead.

Grrrrrrls vs. Women

Yes, Shelley, I too see the word "SELL-OUT" blazing from that rapturous conclusion.

An Open Letter to Donna

So you have it harder than me and I am sad because all I can do is nod my head and say "Yeah, it hurts."

On Aging and Hardship

Every one of us would rather not have gone through the experience. I've reexamined a few incidents in my life and I've concluded that they did not make me a better person.

Pointing Back At Me

I simply said "When I listen to that kind of stuff, I feel the angry well up in me. I don't like living like that."

The Method

They might call this plan "evil": tell them to tell that to Christ, the Buddha, and the rest of the great men and women of spirit.

Defining Patiotism

If support for actions is limited to war making, then I am screwed.

We Are the Borg

The most frightening thing we can say to others is "You will be disassimilated!

On selling our bodies, our monuments, and our sports to the highest bidder

I do not pay to advertise someone else's product.

Harry Potter, Rocky Horror, and Star Bores

I shall probably die without ever having seen Rocky Horror. I might read a Harry Potter book some summer if there's nothing else around. At the present, I have no plans of watching Survivor or Episodes 1 through 3 of Star Bores

The Other Jesus

The more I see Fundamentalists running around attacking others, the more I believe that there must be a second Jesus Christ, other than the one who delivered the Beatitudes.

What is Marriage?

I find both stands to be a little extreme, though I understand where the two amiable duelists come from and sympathize.

On Solitude

fred titles his blog bit "Are you alone(r)?" I would answer "No. I'm just a human being with a rare perspective."

Common Dreams Sells Out

I am beginning to wonder just who finances Common Dreams? Who paid for this piece whose purpose is obviously to calm liberal fears about the implications of this media takeover?

Fifty Dollars A Day!

"Fifty dollars!" cried I. "Why Bin Laden is heavily in your debt!"

Squaring Off and Circling

I wonder, though, if there are others --women who register "masculine" or men who register "feminine" -- who don't feel a need to change their bodies and/or who aren't the attracted to their own sex yet fighting the fight to be themselves against all preconceptions out there?

I'm Talented, I'm Republican, and I Won the Swimsuit Contest, too

How sad that they make the price of a woman's activism contempt for her looks if they don't toe the party line.

Attempted Poetry

I shall rest easy tonight knowing that my writer friends will not be replaced by machines at any time soon

Grinning Cheshirely

But when you need them, cats are there with an impertinent bit of advice or an observation which will have you thinking from the back side of your brain, your eyes staring at the inside of your skull and noticing that it's criss-crossed with craters and cracks like the moon.

Backbone

Those who have stood up to those they don't agree with have no idea of the pain and the price you pay for standing up to those who are your friends and allies in the struggle against oppression.

The Grey Bird Squawks

I could just pull her feathers!

Debate vs. Abuse at Conniptions

These are the kind of people who put signs on your butt that say "Kick me" or who drop banana peels in your path or who pick the wings off of flies or blow up frogs for the Death Star special effect. It's not debate that they are after, but anti-intellectual thrills.

May Day

Americans don't get drunk on May Day. They hold off until Memorial Day when the object appears to be to fill the graves with new corpses so that their relatives will have a reason to visit them next Memorial Day.

Another Open Letter to Jeanne d'Arc

I respect the right of news organizations to function as units and to act as centralized distributors of information. But every center point needs forces on the edges controlling its spin.

Why I Write and Read Blog

One editor is not an adequate test of the value of an idea. A trained corp of journalists is still not enough.

Baby Killers?

I still maintain that I while I do not support "our boys" as they ransack Iraq, I also will not fling nasty epithets at them when they return home.

In Defense of Quarantine

When I opened my eyes, my mother looked at me strangely and started unbuttoning my shirt. She gasped and buttoned it up again straight-away.

Whoa Joel?

If liberals won't treat people like me as human beings and talk seriously about our grievances, it will not be our fault if we vote our consciences. That's what a thoughtful and informed voter is supposed to do.

Double Talk

When the sounds of the word "liberation" and bomb explosions coalesce, I cannot sleep: How can you liberate the dead?

War Blogging

I'd like to confront an erroneous view that is going around in some circles, one that is epitomized by the folksy saying that there are three positions on every issue: yours, mine, and the Truth. I feel that this is a cop out, a way of avoiding adjusting your take on events when the facts don't support it.

Someone has to Speak for the Moles

Mary Beth did little grey gentlemen (and gentlewomen) the world over a disservice recently....

Optimism and Pessimism are Bipolar

The middle ground is Realism: everything is neither good nor bad. Life throws you a mix of experiences.

War Blogging

Now that I've again established myself as a demon in many peoples' eyes, I will get on with the bidaily review of war blogging.

Pointless Comments

I've seen many reactions to the war and I am not sure that the pointless comments like "Yah-dah-duh" or "Woohoo! Gimme a can of catfood" are the ones I personally want to spend my time addressing.

Prayer Resolution

Sometimes I think I left Christianity and became a agnostic so that I could better live the words of Christ.

War Blogging

I'm being found by members of the Moral Left (who include Christians, Muslims, New Agers, Humanists, and agnostics). Thanks for the new links!

War Blogging

Still no care packages for soldiers from me. I stand by what I have said on that subject.

Support our Troops? -- The Question is HOW?

Photos of "our boys" show them to be relatively fat and happy compared to these children. They will be in the crucible for a matter of weeks. The children of Iraq were born to this horror and they've been in it for years.

Molotov Cocktails at Demonstrations

When peace activists saw such people during the Vietnam era demonstrations, they'd surround them with a mass of people and walk them over to the police to be arrested. Strangely . . . they were rarely prosecuted.

War Blogging

All the people I've listed today I respect for speaking their minds on the subject of the war. I do not agree with every position.

As I See It

I'm just telling it like I see it. That's what you get when you come to my blog.

War Blogging

chari and I have been fighting and reconciling like brother and sister, again. Les Jenkins has been adopted into the family, apparently.

War Blogging

The ways people choose to deal with the threat of war is not unlike the ways that people express grief over the death of a loved one. Here the loved one is World Peace. Some cry, some scream, some stay silent, some distract themselves. They are all valid responses to this insane situation.

Don't George Me!

My Own Suggestions to Bloggers and Commentators

I'm not going to hit you folks with a list of things you shouldn't do. Instead, I will note a few things that I like to see in blogs:

An Open Comment on Natalie's Rules

I keep in mind that the biggest price we pay for freedom of speech is that someone else might not like what we write and say so.

Little Boys as Hostages

It's time to apply Amnesty International principles here. Bush and his cronies must be held accountable.

Cheater

Jennifer says that cheaters never prosper. But in my experience, they do.

New Battle of Lexington

Where now the embattled students stand

And let out the shout heard round the world.

A Common Sense Backlash

Names

Quennel Steven

Nirva Moral

Ezra Paddy

Diallo Rico

Rad Yosefu

Haven Thurman

Cavan Luigi

Pre-Packaged

This is My Country -- Get Used to It!

....there are a lot of people who have been taking cheap shots at those of us who love our nation like some people love their alcoholic spouses: we don't want it to destroy itself on this power-tripping drug called militarism.

Thoughts on Creationism

To tell the truth, I hope Ashcroft goes after the professor who Raye names. Just look what happened to the Kansas Board of Education!

Armadillo 2

Governor Jeb Bush reportedly called his brother and told him to add the goddess of good karma to the Axis of Evil because she was flagrantly using chemical weapons.

blu

blu is alive, though not too well.

Armadillo

California may be a more pleasant place filled with people who can count than in than Florida, but they have one up on us when it comes to wildlife.

Apathy or Want of a Purpose?

What good is a superficiality set against a superficiality?

Blog Performance Art
Karen Zipdrive threatened "performance art" if people didn't start commenting. I seized the opportunity to create a bit of my...

The Rules Rezipped

Rebuttals from Canadians welcome. Texans will be ignored.

Another Joel Sax Bush-Era Anti-War Filk Song

For every gaff, Spin Spin Spin
There is an excuse, Spin Spin Spin,
And a lie for every purpose in the White House.

A time to cheat,

A time to steal, etc.

A time for war:  I swear they cannot wait!

Tanya Raises Her Sights

Question: how does Tanya know how hard they are? Has she been walking up to women and feeling them?

Queen of the Throwaway Comment

In my feint at humor, I inspired pain. But I believe our friendship is all right.

Menstruation Envy?

If you want to throw a slogan at him, say War is menstruation envy.

The Sins of Our Spouses....

Everyone who disagrees, please raise your hand. OK. How many times have you been married or shacked up?

Things I Have Survived -- But for What?

God, if you're out there, you've done a damn fine job of making me feel like the whole of existence is all my fault....Pay up or strike me dead. I'm not going to do it for you.

Weighty Affairs

Could it become the fashion of the future to travel places where TB remains at large as a weight cure?

Cassandro

Last year at this time, we worried because we felt that we could do nothing to stop terrorists from attacking us. This year we fret that we can do nothing to stop our government from doing whatever it pleases.

Posted at Techfluid

What destroys self-confidence is the constant living in fear, of expecting something horrible to happen, of expecting people to be cruel or exclusive.

Just "someone"

It's such a great feeling to be just "someone" and not a person with feelings and opinions that he has conceived for himself.

Thomas the Child Redux

I don't believe that we should bomb and I don't believe that everything is OK, even as a tool for momentary solace. I believe that things can be OK if we work to effect them so.

Counter Suggestions to Thomas the Child

The problem is not anger, frustration, or despair: it is what we do with it. Do we shut it away and act as if it is not so? I think not.

Observing States of Mind

Are my friends who believe in the Not in Our Name statement but won't sign paranoid or did I make a mistake to come out? It happens in my life, in my mind. Therefore, I note it.

Beisboll Been Belly Belly Bad to Norton

Oh dear. I'm talking like a progressive again....how dare I attack the sacred cow of the so-called free market!

A Comment Made Elsewhere

It's a good thing that a free people can listen in on the Congress when it is considering whether to commit itself to becoming the world's chief bully and make a hopeless shambles of an already bad economy. I just wonder if the big decision is going to be a smart one.

What the Fork?

Sometimes when I am in chatrooms where the word is prohibited, I have my own collection of "acceptable variants" on the word. "Fark!" is one of the words. "Fork!" also works well as in "It's none of your forking business!"

Thoughts on the Beast

I remember one morning when I sat up in my bed and woke up my wife. "Lynn," I said to the Empress. "I'm sick."