So this whole Shiavo thing. So that happened.

I didn't get why anyone cared. I sure wasn't paying attention. Like so many other things, none of my business. My wishes are well known to the people that matter so it has nothing to do with me. Then I tried to turn on the Clipper game this evening. I figured it might be pre-game coverage already.

Nope. Still Air America.

The Shiavo Incident was the focus of the broadcast. The woman was pretty much just reading some judge's decision. Boring stuff. But man was she mad.

That's when it hits me. Thanks to this, Karl Rove gets to paint certain democrats as people who are both impossibly obstructive AND wanted this woman to die. A vote against the bill meant that you were taking action that would lead to this woman's death. And some 50 odd people and at least one radio host took the bait.

A vote on the bill presented two choices. A yes vote meant there would be at least one more conversation about her fate. It didn't save her. It didn't even put the tube back in. There would just be one more conversation while she starved. A no vote was a vote for no more discussion and for her to die immediately.

Of course in the grand scheme of things this was politically motivated. But it worked. Sides were chosen. Excuses were made. And now its over. I love things that force people to take sides. Cut the jibber-jabber. When the chips are down, where do you stand congressman?

Do you want to run for reelection when the challenger can honestly claim that you knowingly voted for a woman to die? That would fly in the most blue areas. Hey its just a 168th term abortion right? But in a moderate area? Over a whole state if you are a senator? Good luck with that.

Good Best of the Web Today. If you aren't reading this every weekday, whats wrong with you?

Due to recent changes in LA radio, I have the local Air America affiliate as a preset. It makes me laugh because they still broadcast the Clippers.

After checking if there was a Clipper game this evening on the drive home from work and finding there was none, and being an open-minded American, I decided to give them the whole drive home. I listened to Air America for about an hour. Wow. Janeane Garofalo and Lewis Black were guest hosting for someone.

First off, two comedians. Check.

I tried to give them a chance, but after about 2 commercial breaks, it donned on me that they were not really talking about anything deeper than "W is dumb". So I began to time them. For the entire ride home they never spent more than 4 minutes on a subject. They couldn't even fill a whole segment with exactly why they thought he was dumb. Embarrassing.

This is the voice of the opposition. Bumper Sticker Understanding.

PS Thanks to the broadcast I learned that there will be some rally to bring the soldiers home from Iraq in Central Park in NY, NY. Thats a stupid fucking idea. Kerry '08!

Someone went to town with the Overrated mods huh?

Public displays of abortion. Good times.

As a resident of the County, but not City, of Los Angeles, I get all the news of the Mayor's race with little of the self-interest. These are people who are ruled by democrats at every level of government from the state level down, and have always been, back to antiquity. It is easy to look up the freeway and see how the democrats have improved their lives. Oh wait, the City of Los Angeles is in shambles. I'd blame the politicians, but the people keep electing the same ones.

The ability of the people of Los Angeles to repeatedly punch themselves in the genitals and then complain when their genitals hurt rivals that of free people anywhere in the world.

Don't sleep.

Whoa. Its a great time to be an American when people have a union crying about physical intimidation. Wal-Mart workers of Loveland, CO, I salute you!

And Hillary Clinton wants to be sure she has the right to vote as soon as she is done serving her sentence. Good game.

Flawless victory. Fatality.

Wait, I just figured out Karl Rove's plan. The Daily Kos et al work for him and are dragging the dems further down to make it even easier for reps. Brilliant!

Classic bumper sticker understanding combined with a good blue state education. There's 121 more.

your wife will be forced into prostitution by the government.

How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin. -Ronald Reagan

Slow your roll MH, this post isn't about communism. This post is about being taught what to think versus being taught how to think. Its a little bit about extracting ideology to real world application. It also touches on what I like to call bumper sticker understanding. The inability to think about a situation in terms that are too big to be a slogan on a bumper sticker: "No war for oil", "Wage peace", etc.

The two posts that brought this concept to the forefront of my attention again were: This one in which Prof. Reynolds puts forth a point, really a quip, about Prof. Churchill looking like a stereotype. This quickly evolves into a long post about the angry left and the view that it is self-destructive and defeating to behave this way. He provides numerous links to other opinions, including dissents. Notice the complete ideas, dissenting views, and the depth of information and examples both from history and recent history. But mostly notice the links.
Contrast with the reply from Mr. Zuniga. No links; not even to the post to which he is referring. No dissenting opinion. (Its moderated negatively and removed if you try to post some in the forums.) Just one-liners from the Dean wing of the DNC. He doesn't even really refute at what Prof. Reynolds was getting. His reply obviously stemmed out of the "screw them" bit in Prof. Reynolds' post, tagging him as part of the situation the professor was describing. The point was fringe elements of both parties and Mr. Zuniga tries to turn it into a post about the war.

I hope the difference is clear. One site wants to tell you want to think. One site wants to be an echo chamber. One site doesn't want you to use your critical thinking and common sense. One site doesn't want you to hear rational opinion from the other side. One site only operates in points that will fit on a bumper sticker. This is not a comment on the abilities or intelligence of the writers. The writing styles reflect on the intended readers and the effects intended there on.

One site wants the audience to read their opinion and adopt it exactly without question. The other wants to provide their opinion and influence the audience, but also provides the tools to formulate the audience's own.

What's my point? I don't know. I just happened to read these two blogs and this is how it came together in my mind. I want to extrapolate this and apply it to every democrat/leftist out there, because that is how all the loudmouths sound and behave, but that isn't fair. And plenty of republicans/rightists do this too. But it was just striking to me that Mr. Zuniga replyed in what was just about the worst possible way to Prof. Reynolds' post, and then his forums ran wild with him.

P.S. Not too much coverage of the Iraqi election over at the dailykos. Must be going VERY well.

P.P.S. As of 3:00 PST, nothing on slashdot either.

It seems to me, that making all discussion about the Auschwitz memorial about what Cheney wore to the memorial is far more degrading and offensive to to what happened than what Cheney actually wore.

There is a reason they didn't position Joan Rivers on the red carpet; that they also didn't have, idiots. Is the comments of the Washington Post fashion writer really relevent to the memory of maybe a million people murdered? All I can conclude is that democrats are shallow assholes. Or possibly that they are so anti-semitic that talking about the holocaust or Nazi Germany at all makes them so uncomfortable that they have to talk about anything else, such as what coat a 60-something heart patient is wearing. Assholes.

Fixed. Now if it could just tidy up the rest of the house. Doubtful. The ACLU isn't really about what it claims to be about. Never was. This is becoming more clear every day.