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I just called Mr. Duncan's Washington office to see if he was participating in the extended session. One of his staff told me that he couldn't be there because he had pre-existing engagements, but he supports everything they are doing, and hopes to get there if at all possible. I hope his pre-existing engagements are actually more important than demonstrating the fecklessness of the Democrat controlled House. If it were me, I'd be there.
But they have his support, which is good for, well, something I guess.
Congressman Duncan, I'll make a deal with you. You go to Washington and participate in this debate, and I'll drive to the Capitol myself and cover your speech.
So let me get this straight. House Republicans have refused to go on vacation, and are continuing to work in the Capitol Building on trying to craft a comprehensive energy plan while Democrats sit at home on a 5 week vacation.
The Republicans are working in the House Chamber with the lights turned off, no cameras and no video feeds, all because the Pelosi Politburo wants to limit the amount of exposure the Republicans are getting. If reports are corrected, Democrats have actually called the police to come in and clear the press out of the House.
Wow.
How stupid can one woman be? Pelosi is doing a great job of costing Obama the election in November. Think of the campaign fodder! Hard working Republicans staying in Washington, trying to solve a major crisis that affects the lives of every American while Pelosi goes on a 5 week vacation. Do you get 5 weeks vacation? Even worse, she's trying to stifle the press and prevent them from covering the story. She controls the lights, the mics and the video feed, and apparently wants to control the print journalists as well.
How will that play come November?
And lets not forget, the Republicans do not have a majority in Congress. Pelosi has the votes, presumably, to quash any energy bill the Republicans come up with, so why did she work so hard to ensure that no energy votes made it to the floor. Again, think of the campaign fodder. Pelosi blocked the House from even voting on potential plans.
Not content with controlling the press, apparently she wants to control the debate as well. What was it we heard so long about the right being the ones who would stifle dissent?
In a few days, the Olympic Torch will be lit once again, this time in China. I try to watch every opening ceremonies simply because for the vast majority of the competitors, it is their only night of glory. Most will be going home without a medal, but on the night the Olympics open, they are all champions.
Looking back, three lightings stand out in my mind.
Third is the Winter Games in Torino. It was simply a stunning visual spectacle, worthy of the games.
Torino 2006
Second was the Barcelona Summer Games of 1992. Rather than the traditional parade of athletes, the folks of Barcelona decided to celebrate athletic excellence by demonstrating it. Everyone on the entire planet held their breath as that arrow arced through the sky, and when the cauldron exploded into flame, it was as if we had all made that shot. Glorious!
Barcelona1992
The Atlanta games came next, and I didn't think they could do anything to top Barcelona.
I was wrong.
They took the standard tradition of honoring past Olympic athletes and raised the bar by giving the torch to Mohammed Ali. Ali never embodied the meaning of the Olymp[ics more than when he took that torch. The wind was against him, blowing the flame away from the wick and up his arm. His body was failing him, Parkinson's robbing him of his trademark wit and flair. But his will never faltered, never failed. He endured the pain of the flames; he withstood the ravages of his body. He held the torch in place until at last the job was done and the cauldron was lit.
That endurance, that tenacity, that sheer will to overcome all obstacles no matter what, that's what the Olympics are all about.
Atlanta 1996
Rod Serling A man eating dinner gets a chance to meet his idol. But our idols often prove to have feet of clay when we see them up close. We come away disappointed, and feel cheated, almost deceived. That is, we do unless our meeting takes place...in The Twilight Zone.
Submitted for your approval: A Change in Attitude.
A guy was eating dinner in a restaurant one evening when he noticed his favorite movie star sitting a few tables over, quietly eating his dinner. Our man tried to contain his excitement at this opportunity to meet his idol, and he quietly motioned for his wife to look over at the other table.
"Look," he whispered, "It's Dash Riprock! Dash Riprock sitting in the same restaurant as I am! I knew he grew up here, but I never thought he'd come back. I have to go over and say hello!"
His wife was a bit more cautious. "Now dear, the man is trying to eat his dinner in peace. At least wait until he gets to his dessert!"
But our hero was too impatient to follow her wise counsel. "What if he skips dessert? What if somebody else recognizes him and I miss my chance. No, I need to go over there now. Besides, he's no different than the rest of us. He grew up a few blocks from my cousin's sister's boyfriend's bus driver. That makes us practically neighbors. He'll be happy to see somebody from the old neighborhood.
So our Hero gets up and walks over to Dash's table, where Dash is quietly chewing on a particularly nice piece of ribeye.
"Mr. Riprock, sir! It's an honor to meet you. I can't believe you're actually here. Dash Riprock! Action hero and Movie star. Sir, I am one of your biggest fans."
"Mmmh-hmrph." Riprock tried to speak around the wad of beef without showing it to the world.
"Yessir, your last movie, "Ramrock 12: The Penultimate Nightmare" was my favorite movie this year. I thought it was much better than number 3, 7, 8, 9, and 10. It wasn't quite as good as 1 and 11, but how do you top dropping an aircraft carrier over St. Peter's Basilica in order to save the world from a nuclear nightmare?"
"Mmmr-Glad you liked it." Riprock finally achieved the ability to speak somewhat intelligibly.
"Liked it? I loved it! And it was so believable, too. When you discovered that the Pope's illegitimate son was actually the evil mastermind behind the plot to corner the market on solar power, boy, I didn't see that one coming!"
"Well, if you liked that one, you'll really love "Ramrock 13: The Next New Beginning." I can't tell you what's going to happen, but I'll tell you this much. Not everyone who dies really dies."
"Awesome!"
Riprock forked another piece of steak and said "Well, it's been nice meeting you. I always like to talk to a fan, but my dinner's getting cold. Thanks for coming over to talk to me and I'll see you at the movies!" He put the steak in his mouth and began to cut another piece, obviously enjoying his dinner.
Our Heroes' smile dimmed. Riprock was giving him the brushoff? How dare he? Didn't he realize that his fans were the ones who bought the steak he was eating this very minute! He stalked back to his table.
"I never would have thought that Dash Riprock would go Hollywood on us!" he said. "He's forgotten where he came from! "
"What happened?" his wife asked.
"I went over to talk to him and he just brushed me off! Gave me some gladhanding little quip about his next movie and went back to eating just as if I wasn't there. The nerve of some people! If I didn't go to his movies, he wouldn't be able to eat that fat steak he was cramming into his mouth. I have half a mind to never see another Dash Riprock movie again."
His wife, who thought to herself that he may have been overestimating himself, kept silent.
When our Hero went to pay his bill, he discovered that Riprock had taken care of it for him.
"As if that makes up for his rudeness," he exclaimed. "He can't buy me the way he buys his cheap groupies. I said I wasn't going to watch any more of his movies and I meant it!"
Rod SerlingAnd so another idol falls, proven to have feet of clay. We raise our heroes up on pedestals, and then reject them when they fail to measure up to our expectations. But it doesn't have to be that way. All it takes is a simple change in our expectations.
A guy was eating dinner in a restaurant one evening when he noticed his favorite movie star sitting a few tables over, quietly eating his dinner. Our man tried to contain his excitement at this opportunity to meet his idol, and he quietly motioned for his wife to look over at the other table.
"Look," he whispered, "It's Dash Riprock! Dash Riprock sitting in the same restaurant as I am! I knew he grew up here, but I never thought he'd come back. I have to go over and say hello!"
His wife was a bit more cautious. "Now dear, the man is trying to eat his dinner in peace. At least wait until he gets to his dessert!"
But our hero was too impatient to follow her wise counsel. "What if he skips dessert? What if somebody else recognizes him and I miss my chance. No, I need to go over there now. He grew up a few blocks from my cousin's sister's boyfriend's bus driver. That makes us practically neighbors. But don't worry; I'll be polite!"
So our Hero gets up and walks over to Dash's table, where Dash is quietly chewing on a particularly nice piece of ribeye.
"Mr. Riprock, sir! It's an honor to meet you. I can't believe you're actually here. Dash Riprock! Action hero and Movie star. Sir, I am one of your biggest fans."
"Mmmh-hmrph." Riprock tried to speak around the wad of beef without showing it to the world.
"Yessir, your last movie, "Ramrock 12: The Penultimate Nightmare" was my favorite movie this year. I thought it was much better than number 3, 7, 8, 9, and 10. It wasn't quite as good as 1 and 11, but how do you top dropping an aircraft carrier over St. Peter's Basilica in order to save the world from a nuclear nightmare?"
"Mmmr-Glad you liked it." Riprock finally achieved the ability to speak somewhat intelligibly.
"Liked it? I loved it! And it was so believable, too. When you discovered that the Pope's illegitimate son was actually the evil mastermind behind the plot to corner the market on solar power, boy, I didn't see that one coming!"
"Well, if you liked that one, you'll really love "Ramrock 13: The Next New Beginning." I can't tell you what's going to happen, but I'll tell you this much. Not everyone who dies really dies."
"Awesome!"
Riprock forked another piece of steak and said "Well, it's been nice meeting you. I always like to talk to a fan, but my dinner's getting cold. Thanks for coming over to talk to me and I'll see you at the movies!" He put the steak in his mouth and began to cut another piece, obviously enjoying his dinner.
Our Heroes' smiled. "It was great to meet you too. I'm sorry for interrupting your dionner and thanks for talking to me. You're awesome!"
He went back to his table where his wife asked him what had happened.
"I went over to talk to him and even though he was obviously trying to enjoy his dinner, he took a few minutes to chat with me about his movies, and he even gave me a couple of hints about the next one! I knew he was a good guy. Guys from around here don't go Hollywood. They remember where they came from. I can't wait for the next movie to come out!"
When our Hero went to pay his bill, he discovered that Riprock had taken care of it for him.
"Doesn't that just top the cake?" he exclaimed. "He bought our dinner, even though I interrupted his. Dash Riprock is aces in my book."
Rod Serling What you have just witnessed happens a million times every day. Identical encounters leaving opposite impression based solely on our own expectations. We see what we expect to see and hear what we expect to hear. When we sit down to dinner, we eat what we brought to the table. That's true everywhere, especially here, in The Twilight Zone
Ok, that's all well and good, but why did I put this in the political category? Watch the following campaign video.
I watch it, and I see a video that makes fun of Obama's oratorical tendency to puff himself up. He's a brilliant speaker and can move a crowd like nobody's business, but I find it hard to swallow that the ocean stopped rising just because he won the Democratic nomination. He has a gift for hyperbole and this ad pointed that out.
That's what I saw.
David Gergen saw a racist attack on Obama.
As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, 'The One,' that's code for, 'he's uppity, he ought to stay in his place.' Everybody gets that who is from a southern background.
Mr. Gergen, I'm from Tennessee and I didn't get that. Obama has an inflated opinion of himself that has absolutely nothing to do with the color of his skin. The clips in that ad were not taken out of context and were not distorted. He did say those things. Obama's experience and credentials are a bit on the thin side, and for him to make pronouncements like he does cries out for lampooning.
So, Mr Gergen, what is you are bringing to the table?
On a local note, Mr. R. Neal watches the ad and sees the Anti-Christ.
I don't even want to know what Randy is bringing to the table...
So, the Department of Homeland Security has a policy that says if I travel out of the country, they have the right to confiscate my laptop, cellphone, and/or mp3 player, look through all of the contents, share those contents with other agencies, and return my stuff in a "reasonable" amount of time.
And they don't even need to suspect me of committing a crime.
So it looks like my choice in the upcoming election is to vote to lose my freedoms to creeping socialism or to creeping fascism.
Ron Paul is starting to look better all the time. He's just crazy.
Jack Lail asks this question over at KnoxNews.com.
Well, let's look at the record, shall we?
Four Presidents have been assassinated, three Republicans and one Democrat, Lee Harvey Oswald can not be described in any way as a conservative.
Looks like it's safer to be a liberal than a conservative in America.
Now before all the liberals howl with outrage, let me point out that this is obviously not a fair test. I've taken one small example of political violence, one certain to induce strong emotional responses, and I'm extrapolating a threat to a much larger group.
Sort of like what Jack is doing, isn't it?
Jack defends his piece by writing in the comment section:
I said that some in the national media (and not from obscure publications) are raising issues about being liberal in America.And I backed that up with examples.
But beyond that the links included in the article contain a range of perspectives.
Sorry, Jack, but I don't buy that defense. First, the title of the article says that a question has been raised, but the ones you choose to quote don't ask anything. The question, in their minds at least, has already been answered. It is dangerous to be a liberal, and it's all Rush Limbaugh's fault. Second, you claim that there is a wide range of perspectives linked, but you didn't quote any of them and you chose some pretty egregious examples to use, most notably the Guardian piece. Finally, the question is absurd on it's face. Trying to pull rational conclusions out of the irrational acts of an irrational man is futile at best and dangerous at worst. Programmers have a saying, "Garbage in, garbage out."Using Adkisson as a single data point to extrapolate a general trend is a wonderful example of that principle.
On the other hand, right now Jack's story is the 5th most e-mailed and 2nd most commented on the KNS website.
Take a look at these posts from 2004. I wroite them shortly after somebody took a shot at the West Knoxville Republican Party Campaign headquarters. Mr. R. Neal was highly upset that I had the audacity to claim that emotional and extreme rhetoric such as that featured on his former site, South Knox Bubba, contributed to an atmosphere where drive by shootings were encouraged. As I recall, at one point, he posted that he was considering pursuing legal action against me for these posts.
Of course now, when the target is a progressive church, Mr. Neal is singing a different tune. And judging by the comments at his site, some portion of his members feel that folks on the right are more to blame than the guy who pulled the trigger.
What a warped sense of reality.
Incidentally, my position hasn't changed. When you engage in rhetoric that tends to dehumanize your opponent in any debate, you make it easier for unbalanced persons to take violent action. This in no way reduces the responsibility of the guy with his finger on the trigger, nor does it make the guy with his fingers on the keyboard culpable either legally or morally any more than the manufacturer of a videogame is responsible when a deranged kid hurts himself or somebody else.
The question boils down to this: Do we as free citizens need to stifle our speech in order to avoid triggering a violent act from a disturbed individual, or do we accept the fact that when we voice strongly held convictions some folks will be offended, and some of them will react violently?
Read this post at KnoxViews:
We need to address the following:
...how to replace hate-media with more inclusive forums/discussions...
This coming from a website that bans people from posting based solely on their political views, utilizes secret moderators who remove posts and/or comments with no explanation to the author, and where comments on the TVUUC tragedy include these:
On second thought, I DON'T want this worthless old bastard to die. I want him to spend his remaining years as the 'wife" of a large, preferably Muslim, prisoner who finds him real attractive and shows his affection on a daily basis.
I'm not taking this very well, obviously...
Great, the 18 hours per day of cheap slander against liberals WNOX pipes into East Tennessee homes is finally paying off. RedDog has himself a hero! All the cowardly halfwits who reflexively call anyone to their left 'socialist' can now mouth condolences while they mutter gleefully under their breath about witchcraft and fags. Should some remnant of civility twitch inside their vacant brains, they can just turn on Boortz or Rush or Phil or Hannity or Levin, whatever the hour of the day, and snap safely back into groupthink. Liberals are out to destroy America.
It has been months, if not years, since Republicans have had the courage to speak honestly about major problems facing our country or about the lawless perverts they put in charge, and now they don't have to!
"well, when you take such extremist stands on the gay agenda, you might need to worry....."
That to me sounds like it would be actionable.The quoted statement comes from a hypothetical remark made by another commenter.-Ed Half the crap these morons spew, including the chief moron at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., is actionable. But alas, no action.
Well, he does not have to worry about unemployment, food, gas prices, VA issues or much of anything anymore. Most of this will be taken care of for him. He will have other problems to deal with, however. He does have to worry about hating gay people. That is about to cause him some serious self-hatred issues.
...
I find Rikki's comment to be fairly spot on... You never hear anything remotely similar coming from the left. To the extent you may, it's not more than an occasional misguided extremist, or just a normal person emotionally overreacting, and who has an audience no bigger than the size of this one...
No doubt this guy is mentally unstable... And who's encouraging the marginally stable to take the final plunge?
...I'm waiting for some of you conservatives to grow up and take a stand against the vile bastards among your ranks, whether it is war criminals like Donald Rumsfeld or liars like Rush Limbaugh. I'm not sure any of you have the courage, but maybe if you explain what you can do to make sure this sort of thing does not happen again, you can earn a little respect.
The sick f***** who perpetrated these crimes probably thought that the non-violent membership of the congregation wouldn't put a hurt on him once he started blasting away.
Note to Jim Adkission: You got your ass kicked by pacifists.
And every kid born of "illegal" parents whose ass gets spanked on American soil is also eligible to be President.
Which makes Michelle Malangalangadingdong Malkin eligible.
Michelle Malangalangadingdong Malkin (you're good Andy!) is yet another anchor baby for some right wing dictator's friend. And a stupid, sick puppy to boot.
What was that you were saying about hate-media?
I'd write a long meaningful post about the shooting, but what can I say that hasn't already been said? I've just been swimming through the filth that is the KNS comment pool, and believe me, I've come away from it with a whole new view of my fellow Knoxvillians.
It isn't pretty.
Atheists, agnostics, fundamentalists, gun nuts, gun control nuts; all of them using this tragedy to claim victory for their side of the argument.
It's sickening, and for the first time, I'm happy that my comments section is mostly vacant. If I stimulated that kind of response, I think I'd have to stop writing.
What's really scary is that some of the comments have been deleted, indicating that there's even worse stuff floating around out there.