A Rummage Interlude

Spending the day attempting to sell off odds and ends in our driveway ... yes, it's rummage o'rama at the Rock residence. We laughingly told the 10-year old neighbor that we were attempting to earn enough money for the second floor addition. He looked at us in wonder and asked whether we could really do that. My reply was honest.

Unlike our conservative brethren who continue to say that TABOR, or whatever it was called or will be called, is the answer to Wisconsin taxpayer prayers.

Noticed that Frank Zeidler died. I met him once. He was gracious and kind. I wish I had known him better. We could use more politicians like this man. A man who believed in peace.

Having said that, and before returning to selling, only conservatives could turn something good into something that sounds unAmerican. For example, if you are for peace, suddenly you are a peacenik or traitor (what's wrong with peace?).

If you want to protect the environment, not only for our sake, but for the sake of future generations, you are an eco-nazi (what's wrong with breathing clean air and drinking clean water?).

If you utilize your rights as written in the Bill of Rights, especially the one calling for freedom of speech, you are branded as unAmerican and a traitor (what's wrong with voicing your opinion civilly?).

Anyway, back to rummaging.

Coincidence ... I Don't Think So

I was heading home after dropping off some paperwork, and was listening to Charlie Sykes yammer away about gas prices and the failure of the Doyle administration to do anything when, out of the blue, he was apparently handed a press release from the Mark Green campaign that yammered about gas prices and the failure of the Doyle administration to do anything.

The irony was such that I couldn't help but laugh. These guys have no shame and their total disdain for the public is astounding.

Uncle Ho (by Billmon)

As a follow up to my Glass House Resident post … this has got to be one of the funniest posts I have seen. Billmon (here is the link) had an e-mail conversation with David Horowitz regarding the NYT’s efforts to expose Sec. Rummy’s vacation house of residence so it can be booby trapped by the evil Muslims living amongst us, don’tcha know.

Or so Horowitz, Jessica McBride (she didn't actually post anything, but she's so vapid I like to include her anyway) and the astoundingly shallow and insecure Peter DiGaudio would have us believe. The post is here in its entirety … thank you Billmon.

Uncle Ho
This evening I had an extremely weird e-mail conversation with David Horowitz -- yes that David Horowitz -- stemming from a trivial comment I left on his latest screeching rant about the Cheney-Rumsfeld vacation home flap.

Horowitz (on his blog): The fact that Rumsfeld responded to the Times request to take the pictures means what? What else could he say?

Me: How about "no"?

Horowitz killed the comment (or at least, I don't see it displayed on his blog) but he e-mailed me a rambling response that began by pointing to his proposed explanation for why Rumsfeld muscled under to those street toughs at the Times: "If Rumsfeld had said 'no' . . . that would merely have confirmed their view of this administration as secretive and repressive" (again, that's from Horowitz's blog, not his e-mail.)

So in what parallel universe has "confirming that the administration is secretive and repressive" ever stopped Rummy before?

For some quirky reason, virtually everything that emerges from the mouth (or pen) of a right-wing hysteric lately seems to remind me of a Monty Python sketch. And this was certainly no exception. There's simply no way you can read Horowitz's daft explanation and not be reminded of the one about the two-bit hoods who try to run their protection racket on . . . the British military:

Luigi: You've got a nice army base 'ere, Colonel. Be a shame if somethin' were to 'appen to it.

Colonel: What?

Dino: 'ow many tanks you got, Colonel?

Colonel: About five hundred.

Dino:Well you oughter be careful, Colonel, 'cos things break, don't they?

I mean the notion that the New York Times could use the threat of bad publicity to literally extort the Secretary of Defense into letting them publish a picture of his house is just falling down, can't breathe, snot-spurting-out-of-your-nose funny. Hell, in the real world, Rummy would just have Dick come over and shoot the Times photographer in the face with his shotgun. Problem solved.

The point is, nobody in their right mind could possibly believe what Horowitz wrote. And judging by the rest of his email, plus the two others he sent me in quick succession, Horowitz is every bit as loony as people keep telling me he his -- a real meshuggeneh, to borrow that fine Yiddish phrase.

I can't share the e-mails with you -- well, I could, but that would be a crass violation of blogfascist etiquette, plus he'd probably sue. And while having David Horowitz file a frivolous lawsuit against me might turn to be, to use the technical legal term, a real money maker for me and my lawyer, I don't need the money or the aggravation right now.

But take my word for it, David definitely has what the shrinks like to call "issues." One would have assumed 25+ years of flagellating himself for betraying his country, or his parents, or both, would have been enough to appease his inner Big Brother, but apparently not. In any case, in addition to having an inferiority complex big enough to swallow the fucking Hindenberg, Horowitz seems to have a congenital need to argue. (Must. fight. Monty Python. metaphor.)

A commentator on one right-wing site (freerepublic.com, as I recall) once described Horowitz as a porcupine who never stops bristling, and that's about right -- to the point where he apparently can't even let a silly three-word comment from a minor-league lefty blogger go unanswered.

I would have thought David would have more important things to do with his time: running his rat lines into the Middle East Studies Association, tracing the sinister links between Harry Belafonte and Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman -- above all, figuring out new and nasty ways to draw media attention to himself.

But apparently not. I guess even the slander business has its slow nights.

North Korean Erectile Dysfunction

It was reported today that the North Koreans again attempted to prop up their failing regime with the launch of the Long Dong II, their version of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

This newer and cheekier version of the Long Dong I actually managed to pop up about 500 feet into the atmosphere before flopping limply into the Sea of Japan.

An advanced version, named Long Dong III, was rumored to be ready for pre-launch warm up, but at the last moment the experiment was cancelled because workers complained of headaches, flushed skin and vision problems.

Glass House Resident

Peter DiGaudio, of Texas Hold’em Blogger fame, is concerned about the privacy rights of the Swift Boat felons … you know, the guys who made up stories about John Kerry at the behest of Karl Rove.

Apparently, some people have published personal info about them on Huffington Post (according to Peter) and they’re upset, and so is Peter. Personal info should not be played over the Internet, he says.

Hmmm, Peter should follow his own advice. It wasn’t too long ago that Michele Malkin thought it okay to post the e-mail addresses of students who were involved with Students Against War (they had included them in a press release). She did so and was bombarded with nasty e-mails for doing it.

Petey defended her right and re-posted the student’s e-mail addresses not once, but twice.

No one here condones the messages of hate the Swiftys likely received, or what the students probably received. But ...

Cut it out, Peter. Your own words condemn you. Just another case of DiGaudio hypocrisy.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday, USA. I wanted to do more than just put out the flag, but I couldn't find a helium balloon with the number 230.

Still Clueless After All These Years

Well, folkbum beat me to it, but after reading the nonsense about Sec. Rumsfeld's vacation home I just knew that Peter DiGuadio (Texas Hold'em Blogger) would have something goofy to say. Of course, Peter fails to note (folkbum did) that Rumsfeld gave permission for his home to be photographed.

Oh well, can't count on Peter, Michele Malkin, David Horowitz, etc. to harness the truth ... just to rant and rave.

As Tom Tomorrow says ... "These people should never, ever be taken seriously. They are complete idiots."

More from Tom Tomorrow here.

Profile Credit

Profile photo courtesy of Berke Breathed, genius author of Bloom County, Opus and creator of Bill the Cat.

Home Schooling Creationist

From Garry Trudeau ... Doonesbury discusses creationism. Snark snark ....


Click on image to enlarge.