Wow!!! Why didn't somebody think of that before?!

During the 2004 campaign, Lakoff suggested that instead of talking about how Bush had run up the national debt, Democrats should label it a "baby tax'' the Republican president had imposed on future generations.

He has suggested that same-sex marriage should be referred to as "the right to marry.'' Trial lawyers like vice presidential nominee John Edwards should instead be called "public protection attorneys,'' and the term environmental protection, which brings to mind big government and reams of regulations, should instead be termed "poison-free communities.''

Will this work?

Of course it will. Let's be honest: You're idiots.

But seriously. The left has to stop being transfixed by the magical, transformative power of euphemism. Being crippled is a horrible state-- but calling a cripple "differently abled" or that sort of thing hardly changes things any. It may be polite (although to me it sounds condescending) but simple word-substitutions can't change reality. And only rarely do they change the perception of reality.

Posted by: Ace at 12:28 PM | Comments (18)
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I was just having a conversation about this: Even at my age, I still note it when I realize someone is left-handed. It's not that uncommon a trait, and yet, every time I notice someone's a lefty, I feel the need to comment on it more than were I to realize his or her her eyes were two different colors.

Michelle Malkin says that evolutionary biologists think that maybe this curious mutation -- hey, sorry, you're mutants -- has persisted because you left-handed weasels can use that advantage in a fight.

Like Rocky said: No one wants to fight a southpaw.

Tertiary Definition Update: NickS reminds me that "sinister" means "on the left."

"Underhanded" probably meant left-handed at one time, too. Just my guess. Like "southpaw," only conoting that mutant sneakiness that lefties are infamous for.

Posted by: Ace at 12:04 PM | Comments (22)
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I was pretty surprised to read the headline that John McCain was defending Annan, and ready to tear him (another) new one.

But he didn't quite do that. The piece was written by Oliver-Willis-fan Joe Conason-- consider the source. And consider what McCain actually said:

Asked whether he believes that Mr. Annan should step down, the Arizona Republican and outspoken hawk replied, "No. I think that we should have a full and complete investigation and then make decisions like that. Am I disturbed when I hear that his son was on payroll? Of course I’m disturbed about it, and apparently Kofi Annan was [disturbed] also." He added, "I think Coleman is kind of a symptom of some dissatisfaction within Congress about the U.N.—but no, I think we need a full and complete investigation, and there’s plenty of time to decide whether people should keep their jobs or not."

Sure, I wish McCain were more forward-leaning on this, and yes, I think he's wrong about the need, at this point, to collect more evidence before making some judgments.

Still, McCain seems to be making a limited proceduralist statement -- "Let us do these things in proper order, and at the proper time" -- rather than "disdaining" Annan's GOP critics, as Conason claims in his headline.

Perhaps McCain said additional things off-the-record. Perhaps, but I'm inclined to believe that Joe Conason is just being the normal dishonest hack he's always been.

Posted by: Ace at 11:41 AM | Comments (5)
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I guess non-fans of the Beatles wonder why we go through this every December 8.

Sure, his politics were barmy, but then, he wrote She Said, She Said, Sexy Sadie, Hey Bulldog, and I'm a Loser. Plus all the more obvious ones that will get played like crazy today on classic rock stations.

Lennon had one of the funniest quotes. He said he was sitting around as a fourteen year old, wondering, "Why the hell hasn't anyone discovered me yet?"

I guess he had the confidence to admit that, having been discovered in a very big way by age 19, but I think a lot of us have, or have had, that feeling, embarassingly enough.

Heck, I've had that feeling for going on 30 years now. Sad, but true.

At any rate, he is still missed. Even after the peak of his creative powers, he could still pen songs like Jealous Guy. He never quite had Paul McCartney's knack for writing melodies, as one critic said, that seemed to fall from the sky directly from Heaven, but still, many of us who were awed by McCartney's song-writing still give the edge to Lennon, for some reason.

Farcical History Tour Update: Unpopulist claims that Lennon wasn't the Walrus after all, and neither was Paul.

Posted by: Ace at 11:31 AM | Comments (33)
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A brilliant piece that dares to ask the question that's been on everyone's mind.

And that's not hyperbole. That's the actual title of the story. You can look it up and everything.

Some choice quotes from our tolerant friends on the left who just want to leave religion entirely out of the public discourse:

But not every follower of the Prince of Peace is shouting amen to Bush/Robertson/Falwell's Killer Christians. Granted, the fastest-growing churches are either evangelical—Bible believers out to win your soul—or fundamentalists, out to bend your soul to their bluenose will and so literal when it comes to the Bible that some insist Christ's parables refer to actual people and events. Fundies also incline to the authoritarianism of Oswald Chambers, the 19th-century Christian whose harsh sermonettes against rational analysis and for a gut response to God Bush reads each morning (perhaps on this Web site: www.gospelcom.net/rbc/utmost).

...

And in his brilliant 1997 book, Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity, author Bruce Bawer accuses fundamentalism of replacing Christ's Church of Love with a Church of Law, lamenting "the horrible monster that 20th-century legalistic Christians have made out of their God and Savior and the hateful institution that they have made out of his church." He notes acidly that the movement got its biggest boost in reaction not to the Supreme Court's 1963 school-prayer ban but to the Carter-era IRS crackdown on segregated Christian schools. "The Religious Right didn't grow out of a love of God and one's neighbor—it grew out of racism, pure and simple."

"Kids growing up in Church of Law families nowadays think that the only two sins, or at least the only two really, really important ones, are having an abortion and having gay sex," Bawer told Seattle Weekly. "The notion that love, tolerance, and inclusiveness are moral values has been dropped down the memory hole."

...

Perversion of Christian Faith?

"Bush is one of the key figures leading the church away from Jesus," says Christian author Bob Miller, who wrote the nonbluenose Christian best seller Blue Like Jazz. .... Miller classifies Bush Christians as modern Pharisees—the allegedly proud, rigid, legalistic hypocrites John the Baptist called "a generation of vipers." "The worst condemnation that Jesus has for anybody, I mean the worst, is for Pharisees," says Miller. "If you asked Jerry Falwell who the Pharisees are in our society, they can't point anybody out." There are no mirrors in Bush's church.

...

But few have preached harder against the Christian right's wrongs than the Rev. Rich Lang of Seattle's Trinity United Methodist Church in Ballard. "This administration is a culture of death, and so is the religious right," says Lang. ...
His sermon "George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism" (posted like Luther's theses on the church Web site, www.tumseattle.org) rails that "the power and seduction of this administration emerges from its diabolical manipulation of Christian rhetoric . . . the mirror opposite of what Jesus embodied. It is, indeed, the materialization of the spirit of Antichrist: a perversion of Christian faith and practice."

Lang is not using "Antichrist" in a tone of bitter sarcasm, as many do. Google "George Bush is the Antichrist," and you'll get a startling list of Web sites that argue the case, but with sardonic intent and whimsical 666-numerological riffs.

That's all I can take. Maybe you're made of sterner stuff.

Note that once again the left doesn't seem to mind at all when religious doctrine is used to advance the priorities of the left, or denigrate the right.

Thanks to Senator PhilABuster.

Re-posting:

...from the special one-time Home Office at Lynchburg, Virginia...

Top Ten Mandated Changes to Make Christianity More Politically Correct and "Inclusive"

10. "Christian fish" logos must be certified by the EPA as dolphin-safe

9. Key lyric of Martin Greenbaum's hippie-Christian anthem, Spirit in the Sky, changed from "I've got a friend named Jesus" to less-divisive "I've got a friend named Walter"

8. Good Friday officially renamed "Passable Friday;" Ash Wednesday officially renamed "the Day Before Thursday"

7. Placards displaying "John 3:16" outlawed at sporting events; spectators wishing to display their spiritual beliefs may substitute oversized foam-finger bearing the corporate slogan "Dude, You're Getting a Dell!"

6. The requirement that an actual belief in Christ is required to be a Christian ruled discriminatory; churches must offer alternative methods of qualification, such as "celebrating the magical joy of a baby's smile" or "just sitting in the park, thinking about Nature and shit"

5. Christ's words are modified to make them less "harsh" and "hostile" to non-believers; "I am the Way and the Light" changed to "I am the Way and the Light, if you believe in that kind of thing, and assuming that's your bag"

4. By government fiat, Christian Heaven becomes history's first open-enrollment paradise; no particular belief system is required for entry, but applicants must have either a high-school diploma or eight weeks of N.E.A.-approved adult education (in cooking, basic automotive maintenance, or modern Spanish flamenco guitar)

3. Common name "Christopher" -- from the Latin for "Christ-Bearer" -- declared intolerant and offensive; by court order, all men named Christopher have their first names immediately changed to "Mitch" (also acceptable: Walter; see Number 9 above)

2. New Testament rewritten to delete references to Caiaphas and other Jewish priests; henceforth, Christ is accused of blasphemy by Hans Gruber and the German mercenaries from Die Hard

...and the Number One Mandated Change to Make Christianity More Politically-Correct and "Inclusive"...

1. Christian Trinity officially changed from Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to Easter Bunny, Santie Clause, and the Ghost of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (a.k.a., "The Spirit of Diversity")

Posted by: Ace at 10:58 AM | Comments (16)
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Doctor at Vienna institute denies confirming that Victor Yushchenko was poisoned.

We seem to have two contradictory stories here.

Posted by: Ace at 10:52 AM | Comments (1)
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Well, little by little we're getting this thing into shape. The coolest new features are the return of the most recent comments -- yeah, I missed them too; they were great for finding out who was on and what was being argued about -- and this really cool new thing that lets you continue reading an extended-entry post not on a new page but Poof! right there on the same page. You just hit "continue reading" and new words just magically appear.

It looks like I'm going to miss my million-mark. I'm about 450 hits away right now, so the millionth hit is going to come in sometime at 5:30AM, when I am, hopefully, sound asleep.

Damnit.

If you really care -- and I can't imagine why you would -- you can hit the site meter at the bottom of the sidebar to see when this magical moment takes place.

Posted by: Ace at 11:59 PM | Comments (32)
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Poisoned.

Nothing really to say. Just posting it because 1, it's incredibly important, and 2, Drudge doesn't have comments, now does he?

Posted by: Ace at 10:37 PM | Comments (10)
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Actually, I probably already hit it, but since my site meter wasn't connected to my main page until 4pm today, I *officially* had crap traffic until 4pm, and I'm still three grand away from the big number.

That's okay. I didn't find all the good cheesecake and stuff I wanted to, anyway, what with trying to fix the site.

Tomorrow. Gotta be tomorrow.

Posted by: Ace at 01:21 PM | Comments (24)
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But here's the deal: the delightful and omnicompetent WebDiva is going to be fixing the site, at least as far as functionality, sometime around 5:30 EST. The site may look a little wonky for a few hours, but by evening everything should be working.

And your donations will be paying for it. Thanks for those.

And, get this, within a few days she says she can have this site looking like the old-school site... only better, and less wonky.

Until things are fixed, comments are simply disabled. I just cannot get them to work without completely screwing up the entire site.

If you've got a yen to comment, may I suggest the excellent discussion forum The Perfect World, where I've even got my own dedicated folder? Registration's quick and painless and I think they'll even let you post for a while without registering at all.

I'm genuinely sorry for the unending problems with this site's functionality. Frankly I should have just paid a professional a long time ago, but it's always a hard choice between Val-U-Rite discount liquor and, well, any other expenditure.

By the Way: I don't want anyone to misconstrue this as, say, disatisfaction with the great work Madfish Willie did for me. He fixed everything for me. The problem is that I have no idea what I am doing, and so when I try to tinker with the template-- just putting in simple crap -- I screw everything up and I don't know how to fix it back to the point at which it had previously been fixed.

Thanks, too, for all of those who offered to help. But I just think that there was too much that needed to be done to expect someone to do all that work for me for free. But your offers are appreciated.

Posted by: Ace at 11:37 AM | Comments (2)
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