Gobsmacked

George W. Bush poses with the Men's and Women's Track Teams of Arizona U.

And they're all flashing an obscene hand gesture. I'd link to its entry on Urban Dictionary, but all the euphemisms for it almost made me reacquainted with breakfast.

For those who are blissfully ignorant, prepare to eat of the apple. It is called the Shocker and it is a sexual gesture aimed at one of the genders. It is a favorite of frat boys who want to "get crap past the radar," like all those boys on my high school's soccer teams who posed for the yearbook with one particular finger on the ball.

And these guys got W. to do it. I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.

Bad national disgrace, or worst national disgrace? as Stephen Colbert might ask.

Photo stolen from Pandagon.

In Which I Go On A Bit

I just found this column from David John Broder from the end of January, 2007.

Because behind the curve is what we do here at the Falcon's Gyre.

So anyway, we all know David John Broder has an agenda, but he's talking up Obama like he's Black Jesus, gonna end all our troubles, and you know who's the source of all of our troubles? Hippies. Protesters. Equal Rights marchers. You know, the cast of Hair.

In short, the parents of Generation X, of which I think myself part of the trailing edge. My parents.

They just won't let go of the issues of their youth, Broder says, all concerned for the mental well being of people his age. Don't we know by now that the Vietnam War is over? That Bob Dylan is a has-been? These things don't matter to America anymore!

Of particular gall is this part of the first page:

Modern presidential campaigns are essentially character tests, and for 20 years or longer the cultural and political divides of the 60s served as presumed signposts to a candidate’s character. Did he protest the war, trip to Hendrix, march in solidarity with women? Or enroll in R.O.T.C., rush a fraternity, join a church? As a young man, Mr. Obama did not have to make many of those choices, and he now has an opportunity to define himself on his own terms and not be instantly caricatured based on personal decisions he made four decades ago.

No, I guess Obama didn't have to make many of those choices. Of course, all of the choices he didn't have to make are those that Broder positions on the Hippie side of the equation: protest the (Vietnam) war, take drugs at Woodstock, march for equal rights. Those things, Broder would have us believe, are over and done with. Gone.

Except they aren't. We're still protesting wars, only these are in the hills of Iraq instead of the jungles of Nam. Drugs are still a problem, and you can still buy Hendrix albums (so you could potentially trip out to Hendrix, a weak point, I will grant you). Do you honestly think women were the only people marching in the 60s? There were a couple other marches, I seem to recall, about skin color or something.

And those on the Square side of the equation are still with us. I knew members of ROTC in college. I knew frat boys. Hell, I went to a couple frat parties but I soon learned that they liked their music turned up to 20 and their houses were too small for that, so I stopped going. Not to mention it was all just an excuse to get drunk. Oh, and churches are still there.

Obama is a member of a church. That's a choice he made. He did not join ROTC. That's a choice he made. As far as I know, he did not rush a fraternity. That's a choice he made. Were there no war protests in the 80s? Were there no drug-addled rock concerts? Were there no marches for equality? What, not even for gays and lesbians, transgendered individuals and fellow travelers? In the midst of AIDS? None?

So all of these choices that Broder says Obama did not have to make seem to position Obama in the Square column, and not in the Hippie column. Just the sort of person who's going to solve the problems of the 60s by ignoring them, right?

Broder does, of course, ignore that the 70s and the 80s -- Obama's adolescence and young adulthood -- had their own problems. Vietnam was not confined to the 60s. Nixon and Watergate. Oil troubles. Jimmy Carter's rabbit run-in, which Pat Oliphant seems to have decided defined the Carter administration. Oh, and the hostage crisis.

David John Broder seems to be suggesting that Obama has no pet issues to bring to Washington, which is swamped with the fights of the 60s. Of course, this column is almost 2 whole years old, and Obama is on his way to the White House. But I don't believe that the fights of the 60s are done with yet, even though we've elected a mixed-race president. And I don't believe Obama has no pet issues. This was obviously a great step in the right direction, but it doesn't mean that my parents have to shut up now.

Of course, it would make David John Broder's job a lot easier if we all did.

EDIT: I am informed by a reliable source in comments that this column is by John Broder, not David Broder. That's what I get for going off half-cocked, I suppose. Sorry for the error.

Africa? What Continent Is That On?

So I'm sure by now you've all heard that Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a continent blah blah blah.

Well, now Martin Eisenstadt has come forward and admitted that he was Fox News' anonymous source on that.

But Wait! yells the entire Intarwebs. Martin Eisenstadt, you luscious chunk of manliness, you're all lies! And we know this because, as yummy as you are, there is one man against whom you have no chance, and that man is William K. Wolfrum! He has your number!

And he also has the clarity of insight to remind us that even though Martin Eisenstadt is a hoax, that does not invalidate the whole Africagate flap.

So, to sum up, just because someone claims responsibility for something, and later turns out to be a fraud, does not mean the thing he's claiming responsibility for is a fraud.

I reserve judgment on Africagate. It's too pat, too much of a blonde joke for me to accept at face value. Important, if true; aggravating, if false. Important, because it would show how ill-prepared Palin was. Aggravating, because it is yet another example of "Pin the Blame on the Jackass!" that the McCain camp has been playing for the last week, in some sort of effort to come out of this election smelling like roses.

It is a poor workman blames his tools. Likewise, it is a poor adult who shoves his or her colleagues out in front of an oncoming blame storm.

In Which I Am All, Like, Queen Victoria

That is to say, not amused.


New York Times Special Edition Video News Release - Nov. 12, 2008 from H Schweppes on Vimeo.

Except that it isn't over and Bush hasn't been convicted and education still isn't free and hand me a tissue I think I may cry.

So who printed that? It's obviously false and full of practical jokes.

Oh, yes, playing with people's emotions like that: ha. ha. Stop it. You're killing me.

And this, the day after Veteran's Day. (Okay, yes, well, obviously not today, when I'm posting this, I mean the prank.)

Bastards.

(I will say, kudos to whomever it was who yelled out "Judith Miller!" to that blowhard from the actual Times. Good on yer!)

Via Echidne of the Snakes.

Them What Brung Ya

Ya gotta dance with 'em.

One of the people what brung Obama to the White House is named Robert Gibbs. He worked as a press secretary for several people in Congress, and served (briefly) as the same for John Kerry, before he ended up at a 527 group that was smearing Howard Dean in an effort to get Kerry nominated.

Well, this year he went to work for Obama. After bringing the smear magic that helped to destroy Hillary's image in the primary, Gibbs has now been named as Obama's first White House press secretary.

This is a man who has shown little compunction about smearing fellow Democrats. As soon as they became inconvenient, he's the one to slip in the knife. Is he going to keep this up after the inauguration? Will he serve as Obama's attack dog? Are Nan and Hal* safe from his slavering fangs?

I can't wait to find out!

*That's Pelosi and Reid to us mere mortals.

One Grandfather, and One Great-Uncle, May They Rest In Peace

Everyone's posting In Flander's Field today. I can't ever read it the same way since the Iraq War and the administration's arguments for it.

The first part is the same as it always has been:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

It's the last part that I now have trouble with:

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

It's not John McCrae's fault (although it always has been full of jingo), it's the fault of all the Bush toadies who argued that we couldn't abandon the Iraq War because too many people had been killed. Do you recall that? I can't help but remember it whenever I happen to read this poem. That was a self-serving argument that exploited all the pain and suffering that we exacerbated with a short-sighted, selfish invasion, and it has ruined for me what was otherwise a serviceable poem.

I suppose all the foregoing rant is moot, because I wasn't going to post Flander's Field today; I think that's well covered by the rest of the Internets.

I was going to post this all along:



Watch at YouTube. Except nothing visual happens, so I guess you can just press Play and go on with your other work.

Just To Prove I'm Not Dead

Watch at YouTube.

Do You Agree With Gay Marriage Bans?

MSNBC.com has a web poll up -- Do You Agree With Gay Marriage Bans? -- and No is currently leading, 56-42 percent.

It's also showing the top comment by state. Presumably people from outside the USA who vote -- and I don't know if it bans you by region, because I'm inside the USA and it would let me through automatically -- can go jump in a lake (why don't you play a little solitaire to pass the time?).

So, currently, my state of TN is showing Yes, (we few, we asshole few!) but my home state of KY is showing No, and FL, where I've got close family, is also showing No.

Even California is showing No, and they just passed Prop. 8 banning gay marriage! What happened on Election Day, then? I guess all those "Yes" voters haven't wandered by MSNBC.com recently.

Sometimes I despair of my country. Sometimes I'm very proud of it. Sometimes I think it's crazy.

Klan, Incorporated

Ku Klux Klan LLC?!!

::boggles::

They're incorporated?!

Man, do they have some big brass ones!

Smith/Jones '08

Are you unhappy with the current lineup of presidential candidates?

Do you think it comes down to a choice between an old aggressive thing and an aggressive old thing?

Are the official third-party choices not doing anything for you?

There is a solution:

Write in a candidate of your choice!

You can vote for anybody!

Just make sure to follow all the directions carefully!

This post won't make much sense unless you click through the link.