During my college days, we used to have a joke about a powerful creature that lurked within the confines of Padgett-Thomas barracks. It was a beast so powerful, and yet so cunning, that it could sneak up on its victims undetected and overwhelm them quickly, taking them down into captivity.
It was of course, the RACK MONSTER! The rack monster lured you into your bed with just the promise of taking a “little nap”. As was the case yesterday, when I awoke many hours later than I intended. Thus no post yesterday.
<————————————————————————–>
Welcome Sayonara, Crooks and Liars readers! Seems that the kind folks over there have discovered my little place in Bloggerville and were kind enough to link to me. For a few hours anyway. Then the PC police swung into action. Now the link has been removed and all trace of my existence erased from the linking post.
Seems someone did not appreciate my “enlightened ” view of Pat Schroeder:
Another blogger emailed me saying they were offended by Far East Cynic’s portrayal of Pat Schroeder, and offended that I would link to the blog as a result
Dear “offended blogger”,
So it seems you find my portrayal of the former Congressperson from Colorado offensive do you? Well let me tell you what I find offensive, if I may? Having to give away a significant chunk of a hard earned retirement to a slug who deserves not one dime of it. Or watching really good friends and really good people get shafted because of a personal vendetta from Congresswoman who can’t let the Navy work through its own problems at its own pace. I find the fact that some men had to risk their lives because it was more important to make sure less than qualified people were allowed to complete training. Those things-I find offensive. I really do. You will forget about your being offended rather quickly. I and these other folks will have to deal with these things for the rest of our lives. Which, I ask you, is the greater outrage?
Somehow I doubt you will answer that question.
<—————————————————————————–>
Speaking of “enlightened views” or the lack thereof, I am observing the reaction of the blogosphere to Ann Coulters “faggot” remark with a mixture of amusement and skepticism. The Town Hall Harlot seems particularly upset with her former hero at the Nazi party rally recent CPAC meeting. She is shocked! Shocked! That Ann Coulter would indulge in name calling at the expense of a Democratic candidate who holds a position opposite to theirs.
Having read a lot of MM’s own work I am unmoved by her denunciations. In particular, her concern that “children” might be affected.
Enter Ann Coulter.Her “faggot” joke was not just a distraction from all the good that was highlighted and represented at the conference. It was the equivalent of a rhetorical fragging–an intentionally-tossed verbal grenade that exploded in her own fellow ideological soldiers’ tent.
There are countless conservatives who bring their children to CPAC. It’s a family-friendly event. I brought mine last year and the year before. I met several parents with their kids there this year. We expect CPAC to be a place where conservative role models speak with clarity, passion, and integrity. There are enough spewers of mindless filth, vulgarity, and hatred on TV, at the movies, and in the public schools. We don’t expect our children to be exposed to that garbage at the nation’s preeminent conservative gathering.
I was in the back of the ballroom and did not see any children in the audience during Coulter’s speech. But what if there had been?Would you want your children hearing the word “faggot” spoken in such a casual and senseless manner? Would you like your first-grader or three-year-old running around the halls of CPAC singing “faggot, faggot, faggot?” Not me. Not anymore than I’d like my toddler singing “gook, gook, gook” or “sambo, sambo, sambo”–favored epithets hurled at conservative minorities by leftist haters groping around in their empty intellectual quivers. There were hundreds of young conservative college students in the ballroom. Would you be proud of your college-age daughter spewing such epithets in her campus debates with leftists?
RIGHTTTTTTTTTT! As if they have never heard the word before. From their parents. Who happen to be attending a political activist convention that features Sean Hannity as a guest speaker? Or sells T-shirts like this?
Yea the kiddies won’t be affected by that at all. However let an invited speaker use the F-bomb and there is hell to pay.
Actually, I agree with those who say that Coulter knew exactly what she was doing. And while she will be excoriated on the blogs and in the papers, she has probably just sold another 100,000 books. So love her or hate her, old Ann still walks smiling to the bank.
I mean, its not like Michelle exactly has a reputation for tolerance and politeness, does she? Even in her so called denunciation she goes out of the way to distinguish right wing intolerance from the other kind:
We should remind them that we are not on the same side as Bill Maher, the Huffington Post, and John Edwards’ ex-bloggers who pollute public discourse with shallow, sensational attacks and hide behind the “satire” card when called to account.
No Michelle, right wing folks wrap themselves up in other kinds of cloth.
The better question to ask about the whole episode is why is she connecting Edwards and the “F” word anyway? Where the heck did that come from? By all accounts Edwards has a wife, kids, and a solidly heterosexual life. He’s a Democrat to be sure, so his allegiance to homosexual rights goes with out saying. I thought it was a membership requirement.
But to call him a “faggot”? Now if she had used the word “ambulance chaser”-now that might have been more accurate.
If Ann Coulter wants to use the “f” word- I say let her. In a sick, holy cow, ice machine is working in hell kind of way, I find myself agreeing with her central premise-namely why do I have to go to a re-education camp for expressing my feelings?
I really do think that was what she was trying to say-albeit in a rather sensationalist fashion.You play to your audience-something all politicians do-and tell them what they want to hear. Red meat for the audience she thought she was addressing.
<——————————————————————————>
Speaking of the love that dare not speak its name, I have to admit that despite efforts to understand gayness, and gay rights-I just don’t get it. As was noted in another forum:
I think I speak for most heterosexual males when I
say I’m not homophobic but chick-o-centric. Let’s keep it positive, okay? It’s not that we dislike you, the gay guy; it’s just that we really like girls. It seems no matter how long we compliantly spend in rehab undergoing the most stringent psychotherapy to rid ourselves of our knee-jerk to your mate choice, the simple fact is . . . heterosexual guys don’t “get” gays. Period.Heck, we don’t understand women. What makes you think we’ll ever understand a man who doesn’t like women yet wants to be a woman? You just rifled right over our heads. In addition, not only are most men incapable of comprehending what a man sees in another man, we also don’t care to try to because football is on—so can we all just shut the hell up with the gay stuff and watch the game?!?
The author of that little tidbit got pummeled for writing that by the way. But it pretty well sums it up for me. Sleep with who you want to. However please explain to me why do I have to know about it?
<——————————————————————————->
And as for understanding women, I’ve decided that women are just like the insurgency in Iraq. They don’t come out and attack you in a large frontal assault, the simply keep using random acts of emotional violence to wear you down. So it was with me and the S.O. this weekend.
She’s been wanting to buy a rug for sometime. Not a Daiei special throw rug, but one of the expensive Persian kind. Now we need this thing like Pamela Anderson needs breast implants. The woman is already a fanatic about cleaning, what will she do when she has a multi-thousand dollar rug underneath the dining table?
So finally, I said fine-you have to pay for it though. I need to save my money for next year when I will, in all probability, be changing jobs. To which she did not pause a second. She went back to looking for the”one”.
As you can probably guess, we now have the rug, I’m paying for half of it, and I still did not get a “reward”. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! It does look nice though-have to admit that.
<——————————————————————————->
This previous Saturday was Hina no Sekku or girls day here in Japan. People display a set of hina ningyo (dolls) and props in the house, wishing girls’ healthy growth and happiness. Parents or grand parents of a newborn girl buy a set of gorgeous hina dolls unless they have special dolls, which are inherited from generation to generation. The S.O. put up dolls and a special art that she has which has pictures of girls days dolls.
<——————————————————————————->
Finally, while we are on the subject of girls, after we got back from shopping for the waste of money rug, we watched one of our regular Japanese TV shows. Its called Adomachi and appears on TV Tokyo. Each week they examine the top places within one of the various wards within Tokyo and other areas-usually on the Kanto Plain. This last week they took a look at Setagaya Ward, which is a trendy suburb of Tokyo.
Counting down from 30 down to number one they show restaurants and places to go and see. One of their regular features is also the “Good Girls” video which usually appears at the end as they recap. Definitely a treat for me-there is nothing naughty about it-and its a cute little clip.
As witness this little gem from when they went to Kanda:
Excuse me, gotta go answer the door………..Its the thought police-it seems I’m late for rehab.
Ja ne!
Can you provide more information on this? take care