Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Imitation is the Sincerest Form
I’m a big fan of sarcasm under the right circumstances. There aren’t too many ways you can go wrong with it, although it should be noted that there are some. Sarcasm, to me, is a tool that is used to call attention to the idea that some prevailing wisdom, or some wisdom that is expanding in coverage & well on its way to achieving “prevailing” status, doesn’t make quite as much sense as it should. In our time, this is a big problem. I’m a firm believer that we can survive if we solve this problem, and we can’t if we don’t. So to me, if sarcasm is used properly, it is an indispensible tool.
There have to be rules. Sarcasm is like a spice: Too much of it becomes tiresome, which irritates the reader. Also, it is impossible for an idea to be tiresome and possess shock value at the same time, and if a point is going to be made through sarcasm, it is going to be made through the shock value. So I try to adhere to the following:
1. Sarcasm should be funny enough to inspire a giggle from those who can already see the idea is silly.
2. Sarcasm should be poignant enough that those who cannot already see the idea is silly, should realize they have explaining to do if they want to defend the idea.
3. Sarcasm should not set the mood. Sarcasm should never be used twice in the same body of work, unless that body of work is at least five thousand words. Under no circumstance should it ever be used three times or more.
4. Sarcasm should not be delivered in a “straw man” argument. What is being offered by the other side or as prevailing wisdom, should bear a solid, logical connection to what is being ridiculed.
I believe I complied with all four of my own rules when I wrote the following about our constitutionally protected right (proposed 1866, ratified 1868, discovered 2003) to commit sodomy.
The Lawrence decision protects our sacred Constitutional right to exercise that freedom that is most important to our dignified existence as free and sentient beings, the right to insert our penises into the anuses of other men! What could be more of a linchpin of freedom, more of a keystone to the Spirit of 1776, than that. And the three old gray dolts who most closely resemble a future Bush nominee, dissented from the decision, which proves they must be out to regulate how us common people fornicate. Oh, this is rich, I just knew Scalia looked right for that Puritan outfit, complete with the tall black hat, the blunderbuss and the shoe buckles. What an overzealous regulator he is, daring to dissent from this opinion. What a tight-ass cracker. What a Quaker. Let’s take a look at the dissent he wrote, which was joined by Rehnquist and Thomas.
I don’t know if Ann Coulter reads my blog. I would expect hardly anybody does. But how then do you explain this gem which appeared in her column yesterday.
At least she [Justice Sandra O’Connor] would not overrule a precedent for something as trivial as a human life. Overruling a precedent would require a really, really compelling value like our right to sodomize one another. [emphasis mine]
I’ve been robbed, but I’m not calling the police. I’m quite flattered.
Meanwhile, now that those of us who can see the idiocy of this prevailing wisdom have had our giggle, can some among those who cannot, kindly explain? We do not have an absolute right to life unless our minds are healthier than Terri Schiavo’s, and the doctor has already cut our umbilical cords, and we have been convicted of something, or it’s someone besides a misunderstood criminal with a sad childhood story who wants to kill us. Our right to property is limited only to the size of the check the city hall feels like cutting to us, when it decides to take our houses away. Those rights are not sacred. Butt-fucking, on the other hand, is absolutely sacrosanct. Don’t mess with that. Abortions and butt-fucking.
Is this self-explanatory? Because if it is, I must be a big dolt. There’s something I’m not seeing. Uh oh, maybe that makes my brain teeny-tiny, I’d better quiet down before someone comes to get me.
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