Dead White Man’s philosophy

Eh. I’m only interested in the Dead White Man’s Money and why I’m not getting any.

In the best Warner Brothers tradtion, Lewis should have titled his screed The Anvil Chorus of Judeo-Christian Civilization.

Wait, wasn’t this originally about how souls are neat?

Souls are a handy way to argue that abortion is wrong. Useful, even, one might say.

There are cherubs (often children) singing in every choral Mass from the Renaissance to Bach and Mozart, in the Romantics, in operas, in children’s choirs, concertos and symphonies going well into the 20th century.

Cherubim don’t get much work nowadays because they demand to sing above scale.

The first thing the barbarians did after conquering the Roman Empire was to burn all the books.

The Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria probably didn’t consider himself a barbarian.

the English language used words like “soul,” or “dear soul,” to address people in everyday conversations.

And totes hetero male friends often used ‘my love’ to address each other. Now I’m worried that Aubrey and Maturin were gay-married.

The Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria probably didn’t consider himself a barbarian.

What did his towel boy think of him?

Cherubim don’t get much work nowadays because they demand to sing above scale.

I laughed

*golf clap for tigris*

What did his towel boy think of him?

Alas, my knowledge of history and literature has been too dumbed down to allow me even to hazard a guess if the Patriarch ever Copt a feel.

Until the mid-20th century the English language used words like “soul,” or “dear soul,” to address people in everyday conversations.

In aviation, we still say “eight souls aboard” when we mean eight pairs of mobile Nikes, or whatever. Why I’m an “employee” when in my office, but a “soul” when aboard the aircraft, no one has yet explained. (If our airplane crashes in the mountains, I doubt they’ll mount a search & rescue operation for our souls.)

That is important; but it’s just as important to know that the same idea dwells at the heart of our own culture.

The German and Dutch words for large bodies of water also reflect* the idea that the souls of the dead now reside below the water. My own ancestors, the Celts, believed that the radiance of the souls of the dead caused the sun to shine. I very much doubt that NW Euro fundies go around cursing limnologists and astronomers, but what do I know? They may well be as whackadoodle as their American counterparts.
*Beam me up, Scotty, pun intended.

James Lewis is developing the stream of semi-consciousness genre.

Some wingnut writing is dumb and crazy. Some of it is pretentious. When it’s dumb, crazy AND pretentious…now that–THAT–is truly transcendent.

I can only assume that from his “every life is transcendent” stance that he is virulently anti-war. What? He’s not?! The hell you say!!

Math and science, math and science…that is all we hear the intellectual ruling class clamor about these days. We have to better teach math and science and all our problems will go away. […] The dumber the population, the easier it is for them to be controlled.

Because learning rigorous, logical thinking and the all-importance of needing to cite relevant evidence to support one’s claims are the surest ways to wind up a dupe.

I can only assume that from his “every life is transcendent” stance that he is virulently anti-war. What? He’s not?! The hell you say!!

Every sperm is sacred. After that, imperial cannon fodder = justice for having chosen low-income parents.

Math and science, math and science,
go together like an Islamosocialist alliance

We are now being governed by elites that didn’t have to burn all the books, they just rewrote them. Same effect.

As Cerb says, projection, projection, projection. (You do know that FDR caused the Great Depression, don’t you?)

When I think of “dumbed down,” the first thing that springs to mind is those nerds who excel at math and science. Omg, they’re SO DUMB.

So what do you do in aviation tensor?

I’m a 757 F/O for a certain Memphis-based package delivery outfit.

Dude does know that it was the Roman Empire that burned the Library of Alexandria, doesn’t he? (Julius Caesar, 48 BC. Learned that from history, I did.)

I’m a 757 F/O for a certain Memphis-based package delivery outfit.

I’m a Flight Test Engineer at the firm which made your current type rating. (I understand you pilots think of it as a hot-rod, because of all the requests I get from you for us to make more of them. Sadly, Not To Be!) Are you guys in the F/D “souls” when you’re hauling packages, or just regular ol’ bodies? (Um, that’s the plural of “body”, not a term for throttle-snapping.)

Congrats on your DFC. I am not worthy!

So is this why there’s so much wingnut crap out there – they’ve managed to skip the “research” and “fact-checking” part and progressed onward to just making shit up?

Dude does know that it was the Roman Empire that burned the Library of Alexandria, doesn’t he? (Julius Caesar, 48 BC. Learned that from history, I did.)

Several centuries later, the Xtians got another chance, dragging Chief Librarian Hypatia from her chariot — Cyril had warned her not to teach men! — and killing her in the process. The Library was rebuilt yet again, for the Muslims to complete the destruction several centuries later. Why, it’s almost like authoritarian power-structures have a chronic problem with the accumulation, organization, and retention of systematic knowledge. (Who needs books when you have angelic choirs, after all?)

Then the Emperor Aurelian (270-275 AD) took a whack at it. And as mentioned above, the Emperor Theodosius I (391 AD) got the remaining volumes at the Serapeum and presumably the Mouseion (from which we get the term “museum”).

BTW, since when were the Hebrew patriarchs “white”? I suspect that would have been news to Jewish students excluded by quota from universities until the ’50s and ’60s, and by gentlemen’s agreement from country clubs until, oh, say, even today.

There are cherubs (often children) singing in every choral Mass from the Renaissance to Bach and Mozart, in the Romantics, in operas, in children’s choirs, concertos and symphonies going well into the 20th century.

What’s he saying here? I was going to say something snarky but I can’t figure out what he’s saying.

There are not-children cherubs singing in every Mass, opera, concerto and symphony? Even those that aren’t scored for voice? What part do the not-children cherubim sing – Alto? Countertenor? How about Penderecki? Are there cherubs singing in Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima?

C… could this be an extremely subtle exercise in objecting to abortion?

And where in Caer Bannog is this gentleman getting all that guff about QALY? I thought the big deal about QALY is all the actuaries in Blighty have spent the last decade making a strong case for abandoning it as nearly impossible to work with, since the variables are so variably variable and the definitions so indefinite. Plus, is there any evidence whatsoever that it’s going to be part of health care changes in the U.S.?

(Cerberus, thank you very much for taking on the sanity-destroying mantle of Sadly, No! commentator. I am very much enjoying Shorters: The Extended Long-Play Director’s Cut Versions.)

BTW, since when were the Hebrew patriarchs “white”? I suspect that would have been news to Jewish students excluded by quota from universities until the ’50s and ’60s, and by gentlemen’s agreement from country clubs until, oh, say, even today.

Their descendants eventually earned the same whiteness we Irish and our evil papist counterparts, the Eye-Tal-yans, earned by numbers and by sticking around for a really long time. (Luckily, our non-duskiness meant no difficult Civil Rights Movement was needed to whitefy us.)

I can’t find any evidence that the Visigoths et al burned books except that there maybe happened to be books in buildings that were destroyed. They didn’t appear to have much interest in books at all, certainly not to the point of seeking books out to destroy because they were opposed to the knowledge held therein. No, that would have to wait for the church.

I can’t find any evidence that the Visigoths et al burned books except that there maybe happened to be books in buildings that were destroyed. They didn’t appear to have much interest in books at all, certainly not to the point of seeking books out to destroy because they were opposed to the knowledge held therein. No, that would have to wait for the church.

Bingo. “Barbarians” were after shiny objects, like the decorated covers of some books. It was the Christians who destroyed books because of the forbidden knowledge those books contained. (And, anyway, we’re Living in the Last Days, so who needs that sciency stuff? Too bad the Book Of Revelations has no expiration date, eh?)

Too bad the Book Of Revelations has no expiration date, eh?

Well, it does.

But similar to the way where you pick up that can of tuna that’s slightly… bulging, but shrug your shoulders and open it anyway and mix it in with your salad and then spend the next 18 hours moaning in bed clutching your stomach and rushing to the toilet to expel it; so too do the fundamentalists continue to try reading a critique of late pre-Christianized Rome and spend the next 1,800 years moaning and clutching their stomach about the oncoming persecution and ravagement from the perils of the outsider and expelling filth and madness onto the world.

I think my simile got away from me.

Who the hell gave him that translation for “Namaste”?
It’s Sanskrit for “salutations (namas) to you (te).” No soul stuff there.

Confusing “Buddhist” with “Sanskrit” is almost as perplexing, unless he is thinking of the vast corpus of Mahayana texts in Sanskrit or the bad Sanskrit euphemistically referred to as “Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.”

Plus, early Buddhism denies the existence of the soul. So, yeah.

I think it might be pertinent to point out that Agatha Christie also wrote a book titled “Ten Little Niggers,” whose name was eventually changed to “Ten Little Indians.” So, I wouldn’t be as quick as this jackass to quote her as an authority on morality in language.

In socialist medical monopolies, human lives are literally translated into dollars and cents, because socialism cannot allow each individual life to have a transcendent meaning.

Such beautiful projection. Obviously only socialist organizations like WalMart look at humans purely as bottom-line values (as evidenced by things such as “dead peasant insurance”).

And as for that commenter– guess he wasn’t around when ZOMG MATH AND SCIENCE WE HAVE TO BEAT THOSE GODLESS COMMIES TO THE MOON!

I think my simile got away from me.

I think it’s very appropriate.

Plus, early Buddhism denies the existence of the soul. So, yeah.

You’re getting your reality in his ecumenical anti-humanism!

I think it might be pertinent to point out that Agatha Christie also wrote a book titled “Ten Little Niggers,” whose name was eventually changed to “Ten Little Indians.”

When Ian Fleming’s novel Live And Let Die was sent across the pond, the chapter with Bond and Leiter going to Harlem was re-titled, from “Nigger Heaven” to “Seventh Avenue”. Post-racial society, central to my point, also too, and such as.

The fact is, and remains, soclialism is like Hitler.

And as for that commenter– guess he wasn’t around when ZOMG MATH AND SCIENCE WE HAVE TO BEAT THOSE GODLESS COMMIES TO THE MOON!

Once the Dread Socialist Bolsheviks went belly-up, because Zombie Reagan — NOT their military-industiral complex run amok, thank you very much! — treating employees like something other than meat-space analogs to numbers became so terribly passé, darling. Then it was back to pie-in-the-sky Zombie Dead Rabbi indoctrination for the plebes, none of that socialistic science required anymore.

When Ian Fleming’s novel Live And Let Die was sent across the pond, the chapter with Bond and Leiter going to Harlem was re-titled, from “Nigger Heaven” to “Seventh Avenue”.

What’s particularly strange is that “Nigger Heaven” meant a segregated balcony.

The fact is, and remains, soclialism is like Hitler.

Bücherverbrennung macht Fries to go with that Shake.

“…they believed in the transcendent value of human beings.”

Yeah, and they crucified your lord and savior. You win some, you lose some. La-ti-da.

Their lives had far more pain and troubles than our own, but they believed in the transcendent value of human beings. The angel chorus isn’t just an old, sentimental picture; it conveys an extraordinary philosophy of life.

Specifically, that life is “nasty, brutish, and short,” so you’d better get good with the Zombie Dead Rabbi — or with his fat, lazy, pedophiliac representatives here on earth — if you want to be something other than the local Prelate’s stable-sweeper in Your Next Life. (Note: not all afterlives are created equal; your milage may vary.) Only after you “scientists”, with your “knowledge” and “facts” and “proof” appeared to survive the beatings and burnings we prepared for you ruin Traditional Values (TM) did we begin to doubt the awesome rightness of our morality. Curses be upon you!!1!

transcendent value = raising prices before a sale?

I was taught namaste was ‘my consciousness recognizes your consciousness’ to represent that you’re meeting another thinking, dreaming being like yourself.

…I was also taught to appreciate quality of life, and to try to save the quality, not just the breathing part. I’m not sure why you’d insult someone for trying to make sure your quality of life was high.

But similar to the way where you pick up that can of tuna that’s slightly… bulging, but shrug your shoulders and open it anyway and mix it in with your salad

SWEDISH CUISINE.

Shorter James Lewis: Ethnoentrism RULES, motherfuckers!

Needs less sneering.

“Islam, too, in its more peaceful varieties” lets everyone know just how liberally fastidious Lewis is in upholding his Western Civ. fetish. “Hey guys, even them towelheads make some damn purty music too! Maybe they’re not all out to rape our kids & blow us up after all!”

Likewise, bleating one’s butthurt over somehow* being tragically cut off from one’s Western cultural heritage by that evil cult of Secular Humanism… on the Interwebs? WTF? Do Secular Humanist thugs release crowds of demons to rough up everyone’s modems until they stop transferring any data too religious or old-timey? Did Obama institute a Genealogy Tax?

When assclowns say the word “soul,” I reach for my neurons.

Perhaps the pontificating & chiding over souls & the humane West would hold more weight were it not coming from a spokesdipshit of the exact same tribe that was eagerly pimping “Ticking Timebomb” rationales for state-sponsored torture a few years ago. Sort of hard for me to hear these sycophantic cretins singing the praises of people like Shakespeare or Mozart & keep a straight face.
_____________________________________________

* Are Underwear Gnomes involved? It would be shopworn not to speculate.

Is there special training for underwear gnomes in Mormon-heavy locales?

socialism cannot allow each individual life to have a transcendent meaning

In socialism workers own the meanings of perfection.

Ethnocentrism … sigh. I blame Bobo Brooks.

I know all about all those angel messengers; I’ve even seen them in many works of art, and included one in one of my own paintings. I was totes into the carnal Mary. I did one painting in oils of her in labor being attended by Mary Magdalene, Elisabeth, and one other woman, and called it “Christmas Eve”. It was a little kick I went on while reading Elaine Pagel’s writing on the Gnostic Gospels, and making the images of carnal Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Elizabeth a metaphor for the creative process. Then that Christ porn movie with William de Foe came out, and I dropped the whole thing for a while.

And I did a five by three black and white painting in hi-fi grays, fine french pastels, charcoal, conte, and chalk on paper, of Mary being awakened in rapture by the hand of an angel and being totally knocked-up in that instant, because why would that god make Mary go through all the bother of nine months of pregnancy? Surely that god really liked and respected Mary and wanted to get on with the whole project. Who can argue with a woman being suddenly nine months pregnant? Why would that god want to create intrigue and distrust between Mary and Joseph? They were a very important set of parents to that god; they were having his baby and raising it to be human.

Her breasts were perfect and the inside of her tent was sumptuous and rich with geometric and floral patterns. Her bed was comfy was marvelous. Being poor does not mean sacrificing style and beauty— I despise poverty porn.

1) the math and sciences, i dare say are a big part of the new direction our economy needs to focus on: service industries…this is what we need to learn from the great depression and ww2: the gd came upon us in part because great advancement in farm technologies rendered many farmhands obsolete…manufacturing jobs created by ww2 and government works programs, brought us back around…since any manufacturing jobs still around after lo these many years have been outsourced, what should we do? besides start another war…

2) rilly? d00d’s all about cherubs and art and music and literature? rilly? cuz these things never get pointed out as wastes of time and taxpayer dollars when it comes to cutting school budgets…

honestly…do they even realize the caricatures they have become?

honestly…do they even realize the caricatures they have become?

Sadly, No!

Man, am I glad this never occurs in our current insurance system. Cause that would really suck.

i know, right? i’ve never heard the words ‘unnecessary procedure’ or ‘referral denied’…and hey, i really, really enjoy that preventative measures such as mammograms are not covered by my plan!

the fact is (gary?) that we westerners have a deeply hospital-centric way of dealing with things…our health care systems focus on treating the problem, not preventing them in the first place…let’s do the math here, shall we? who makes money from patients in the hospital or diagnosed with some disease? medical device manufacturers, drug companies, etc…and surely our *souls* are of the utmost of importance to them

…some inroads have been made with preventative care, but not nearly enough…and progress in that direction seems almost hopeless…especially when some people have a major fucking hissy fit when michelle obama suggests eating more fruits and veggies and getting off your fat ass and exercising once in a while…

i don’t hold out much hope for dumbfucks like lewis to ever figure that out…

I’m sorry but I can’t even read the whole entry. A close friend was recently diagnosed (after a year of “non-productivity”) with lupus. She’s only 43 and probably won’t ever be able to work steadily again. Who pledged to provide for her indefinitely? The company she worked for most recently? The company she worked for first? The church, any church? Nope, but Social Security stepped up to the plate. Yeah, even the limited “socialist” safety net we have in this country considers my “non-productive” friend worth supporting indefinitely. Social Security supported another friend, who has post-traumatic stress disorder, for a few years when she couldn’t work after an incident of workplace violence that workman’s comp didn’t cover. She’s working again, and she says that Social Security’s willingness to support her when she was unable to work actually gave her additional confidence about getting back to work, and that she returned to work sooner rather than later because of Social Security (she’s lucky enough to have family that was willing and able to support her even if Social Security hadn’t pulled through).

Clearly, Social Security is Teh Evuls and is reducing us all to numbers on a chart that will…I just don’t even know anymore.

we westerners have a deeply hospital-centric way of dealing with things…our health care systems focus on treating the problem, not preventing them in the first place…let’s do the math here, shall we? who makes money from patients in the hospital or diagnosed with some disease? medical device manufacturers, drug companies, etc…and surely our *souls* are of the utmost of importance to them.

Prior to my aviation gig, I was a student intern engineer at a major Big Pharma concern. While I loved the opportunities it gave a young’un, it slowly dawned upon my jejune mind that Western Medicine is far more interested in cutting you open & sticking tubes in you — including tubes which delivered My Glorious Works — than in preventing the condition in the first place. In the intervening decades, we’ve shown more interest in preventative care, but it’s still SOSHILIZM to care about the whole person than to devise devious post-condition cures for PROFIT!!1!

A close friend was recently diagnosed (after a year of “non-productivity”) with lupus.

I hope she hasn’t been subjected to too many House jokes.

The post-modernists are coming! OMG, their flaunting their transtextuality and deconstructing every metanarrative in their path! They’re going to sous rature us all! AIEEEEE!!!!

Dude does know that it was the Roman Empire that burned the Library of Alexandria, doesn’t he? (Julius Caesar, 48 BC. Learned that from history, I did.)

Yeah, but he claimed it was an accident – he was just trying to burn the piers, and it got a little out of hand… who knew Alexandria was so flammable!

“A close friend was recently diagnosed (after a year of “non-productivity”) with lupus.

“I hope she hasn’t been subjected to too many House jokes.”

Actually, I’m the only in person in her crowd who’s ever even watched “House,” so she has been spared both lupus jokes and poor narrative structure.

And being reminded of “it’s NEVER lupus” except for that one time it was, is the first laugh I’ve gotten about the situation, so thank you!

Post-modern philosophers like Peter Singer treat human beings as utilitarian walking puppets

Singer’s philosophy is a form or an extension of utilitarianism, which means BY DEFINITION he is not a post-modernist. As always, it is hard to decide whether Lewis has no idea what the crap he is talking about other than that “post-modernist” is Badthink and is therefore a label to be attached to anyone unfavoured, or whether he is lying.

The implication seems to be that non-post-modernist philosophers are Dead White Males and therefore to be claimed for Lewis’ side of the Culture War, much in the same way that MLK is now appreciated as a Republican, or at least as someone who would have voted Republican. Never mind that practically every philosopher Lewis has heard of was excoriated in their time for atheism and lack of concern for souls. Theology, alas, is no longer part of the Philosophy mainstream.

Is a ‘Word ceaser’ anything to do with a ball-gag? AFAF.

bbfk has a blog! Everybody rush over to her place RIGHT NOW and say Hi. Plus you get to see her inventive Christmas tree.

http://fornooddreason.wordpress.com/

I’ve totes forgotten how to do the ‘href’ thingie to convert links into text. Can some kind sole give me a refresher in the href mechanics?

In socialism workers own the meanings of perfection.

In Russia, meanings of perfection own you.

<a href=”valid web address”>The text or image you wish to display as a hyperlink goes here.</a>

My God is the most loving and benevolent creator ever!
This; of course, give me the moral authority to declare you all a bunch of socialist thieves!!

No night hawks flying tonight?

Lewis thinks liberals have no use for souls? I call bullshit. We got soul, man….

And being reminded of “it’s NEVER lupus” except for that one time it was, is the first laugh I’ve gotten about the situation, so thank you!

Er, you’re welcome? I don’t know much about lupus, though a casual Google turns up enough information to convince me it sucks and I hope your friend can successfully manage it.

Thanks, EZ! Ima gonna try it after I find some short, poppin’ music to keep the night hawks flying.

When your mind is shit, letting it flow is merely adding the froth to the Santorum.

Santorum Surging!!1!

Okay, here’s my test of the href thingie. Some Rock & Roll from 40 years ago. Velvet Underground’s Loaded album is one of my all-time faves.

I often used this song to open my night-time radio program. Set the tone first, then open the mic after it ended.

Hell, you’ve got 4:45 to spare … plus its a good groove for high-flying night hawks.

(Again, thanx for the tutorial, EZ.)

“Er, you’re welcome? I don’t know much about lupus, though a casual Google turns up enough information to convince me it sucks and I hope your friend can successfully manage it.”

I hope so, too, so thank you also for your good wishes (and I was not being sarcastic about the “House” reference, that really did make me laugh). She’s still coming to grips with the diagnosis. Before her diagnosis, I’d come into a bit of good fortune and planned to share it with her by treating both of us to a trip to a desert spa, since she’s always loved being in the sun. Unfortunately, part of Life with Lupus is being, essentially, allergic to the sun. I told her I’d take her to the ice hotel in Quebec instead, but we both agreed it would not be the same at all.

ETA on above comment;

I made it on topic by stating that, since my friend and I are both lifelong liberals, it is apparently my duty to euthanize her, and her duty to allow me to do that, so the desert spa/Quebec ice hotel excursion will clearly be with one of my non-disabled friends.

Hiya, Lily! I’m mostly here for the OFF-topic rollercoaster.

Yeah, I’m glad your friend has ssdi to help her with this. I’m so close to this issue that I can’t even think about it, sometimes. It’s bad enough when the wing-nuts carry on the way they do, when “progressives” start talking about having no reform but ideal reform as if the people who would die without the current reform were just so much dirt beneath the nails of their pristine ideology, I want to start punching some junk.

Disclaimer:

“transcendent value of human beings” offer not available to gays, mexicans, muslims, residents of oil-rich nations, subjects of US-friendly dictators or anyone at odds with US national interests as designated by AEI or the Heritage Foundation.

Some restrictions apply. Your mileage may vary.

Naturally Santorum!

Dammit, Cerb, I expect better of you.It’s Caesar. Pull yourself together, comrade.

“Yeah, I’m glad your friend has ssdi to help her with this. I’m so close to this issue that I can’t even think about it, sometimes. It’s bad enough when the wing-nuts carry on the way they do, when “progressives” start talking about having no reform but ideal reform as if the people who would die without the current reform were just so much dirt beneath the nails of their pristine ideology, I want to start punching some junk.”

Thanks, Wiley (long may you be the intrepid go-getter of mangoes). The Nirvana Fallacy sucks ass (in a bad way) no matter who purpots it.

“Hiya, Lily! I’m mostly here for the OFF-topic rollercoaster.”

Awesome! Let’s mambo dogface to the banana patch in order to trade lipsticks!

And since I guess I’m kinda establishing myself here, where do I go for guidance in properly quoting and whatnot? The first kindly Anonymous who extended a sympathetic joke (again, much appreciated) my way figured it out, yet I am oddly clueless. I’m certain it’s transparently obvious, like in a giant sidebar or whatever, but I remain directionless and lost. I worked on the Dukakis Campaign, though, so I should be used to that, amirite? Heigh-ho!

Im starting to think that no one under the age of 30 should be able to use the word “totes.”

I’m looking you, vacuumslayer.

If the marketing department at Xtians R Us is worried about customers switching carriers, maybe they shouldn’t have fucked up the service with nearly 2,000 years of oppression, xenophobia, genocide, rape, warfare, and all around prickishness.

I’m pretty fucking tired of these insecure, frightened, religious bigots implying that some nefarious “other” has tricked me and other normal people into abandoning their stinking worldview. If humanity has moved on, humanity has moved on–they need to get over it, join the rest of us or move to the boonies in undisturbed isolation and await their extinction with dignity.

a golden nugget of Western civilization.

Poop!

any Iowans here?

I’d love to get your take on this guy’s article.

but I remain directionless and lost. I worked on the Dukakis Campaign, though, so I should be used to that, amirite? Heigh-ho!

heh…i think you’ve gotten the drift here…i went to an html code website to learn the basics and then just put any other questions out there for whichever kind sadlynaut to answer….protip: it helps if one of your first posts has a tagfail so massive that tintin has to fix the site…

just remember Christian pizza tastes like shit

Fuckety fuck. Let’s try that again.

“transcendent value of human beings” offer not available to gays, mexicans, muslims, residents of oil-rich nations, subjects of US-friendly dictators or anyone at odds with US national interests as designated by AEI or the Heritage Foundation.

In such cases, value shall be ascribed by raw materials provided for Soylent Green

Jeez. BBKF gets a blog and the first thing she does is use FYWP to put me in moderation. I AM NOT MODERATE AND THIS WILL NOT STAND.

I worked on the Dukakis Campaign, though, so I should be used to that, amirite? Heigh-ho!

Couldn’t hurt. Thick skins are an asset here, not a liability.

Welcome aboard. Tell us about yourself.

And would you like to see my etchings?

I AM NOT MODERATE AND THIS WILL NOT STAND.

Viagra will help with that.

I’d love to get your take on this guy’s article.

i am not an iwegian, but i have close friends who are…and this guy is full of crap…just like where i live, it’s all in where you go…i’ve a friend who has lived in iowa for quite some time and avant garde as she is, iowa seems to be the place best suited for her…together we go to art galleries with some pretty amazing shows, she used to live in the ‘future birthplace of captain james t. kirk’ where we all giggled at the trekkie parade, i’ve gone to incredible concerts, hung out in bar parking lots listening to local bands, eaten some amazing food in upscale restaurants…as well as some amazing comfort food in the little cafes…

like a good minnesotan, i mocked iowa for being….well, iowa! a place full of cows, corn and backwards people…but actually, our friends there have shown us a completely different place…full of progressive people and politics and culture…sure you got your yahoos…but you find them anywhere and everywhere…out here, where i live, we listen to the same old stereotypes about us…contrary to perception, hotdish and jello aren’t mainstays…we’ve evolved and even have fast food chains out here! sure, most folks know everybody, but it’s getting to where there are a LOT of people i no longer know living in town…and since we are no longer such an outwardly social community and there are less and less events where people gather just to get the hell off the farm and socialize with other people, now that we have cable, dishes, netflix, internet, we’re just like everybody else!

he makes it sound as though all of iowa were some sort of redneck hidden valley ranch commercial, when in fact it’s not…although there is some charm in how beautifully green and lush it is in the summer time…

like a good minnesotan, i mocked iowa for being….well, iowa! a place full of cows, corn and backwards people

So when you tell them to go fuck themselves, they really can.

Jeez. BBKF gets a blog and the first thing she does is use FYWP to put me in moderation. I AM NOT MODERATE AND THIS WILL NOT STAND.

ha, ha…like i even know what i’m doing! i haven’t even thought of comments yet…actually i was just testing out how the blog linky thing works and forgot to remove it, and then fenwick blabbed and of colurse i’m not ready for any comments!

Wow,bbkf. N_B must really like ya. He doesn’t comment on my blog.

BTW, bout frickin time. Ill hop on over as soon as I get a chance.

Thanks, bbkf. I had a feeling it was a combo of hyperbole and “truth hurts.”

(The Visigoths) didn’t appear to have much interest in books at all

The Visigoths did read books, but only books written by sneering, ultra-dogmatic post-modernist Marxists, preferably with lots of illustrations of big boobies.

Wow,bbkf. N_B must really like ya. He doesn’t comment on my blog.

[MRA] BBKF was kind enough to pixilate herself so my alpha-male eyes did not have to look upon her true form. [/MRA]

I’m in a hurry guys, so I’m sorry I didn’t read all the comments and am probably repeating one of you other enlightened ‘souls’… but i just can’t hep meself.

“Following Britain’s National Health Service (now brought to you by Obama), our lives will be counted in “QALYs,” the amount of medical money our lives are worth, depending on our age and state of health.”

As opposed to the present system wherein my life from birth to death is rated in its potential to create of profit for the fortunate few insurance execs, insurance company shareholders and of course, hospitals and doctors.

I go to bed in peace every night knowing that if I cannot pitch in to make sure some doctor makes a payment on his Jag or another hospital exec gets a fat bonus, I should probably just die.

Because the fine humanity of the capitalist system is that I am a commodity; a feature of profit for the few and the sooner I reach that point of enlightenment, the sooner I will be able to accept my early and probably suffering departure from this earth and entrance of my soul into the purgatory of perpetual suffering for the sin of poverty.

Makes me just want to rip my liver out right and send it off to the nearest alcoholic, skirt-chasing, racist CEO or trust-funder that I can find so I my soul can reach that fine point of enlightenment as soon as possible.

The Visigoths did read books, but only books written by sneering, ultra-dogmatic post-modernist Marxists, preferably with lots of illustrations of big boobies.

But only for the articles.

There was PlayGoth, PentYurt….Readers’ Digested….

Wow,bbkf. N_B must really like ya. He doesn’t comment on my blog.

while he’s reading your’s he may be too *busy* to *comment*…

Thanks, bbkf. I had a feeling it was a combo of hyperbole and “truth hurts.”

yeah…pretty sure this guy’s just a yob…

our lives will be counted in “QALYs,”

I bet four hundred QALYs on the newcomers.

BBKF was kind enough to pixilate herself so my alpha-male eyes did not have to look upon her true form.

You sure you just haven’t, you know, gone blind, in addition to those calluses on your hand?

These pricks just can’t stand the idea of a system existing where they can’t buy in to get in the front of the line.

poerba said,
January 3, 2012 at 5:25

Who the hell gave him that translation for “Namaste”?
It’s Sanskrit for “salutations (namas) to you (te).” No soul stuff there.

Right. Seems to be a general Indian greeting, and the vast majority of Buddhists are not Indian.

Plus, early Buddhism denies the existence of the soul. So, yeah.

Um, what Buddhist schools affirm a separate, unchanging soul like the Christian use? “No-soul” is a foundational doctrine of pretty much all of them. This fellow’s attempt to depict “the Left” as using a “Buddhist” greeting to recognize soul is irksome to Buddhists in more than one way.

Would that he look to the Gospels for further inspiration, like maybe the idea that those better off are responsible for the care of those in weaker shape.

“yeah…pretty sure this guy’s just a yob…”

I’m not ready to dismiss him as that yet. I just wanted to get an actual Iowan to challenge his assertions. I get the feeling a lot of his complaints are valid but he relied upon hyperbole to make a point.

Um, what Buddhist schools affirm a separate, unchanging soul like the Christian use?

Also, if he’s going to link Buddhism to Hinduism (thru the use of the greeting namaste) then he’s going to have to explain how reincarnation, which Hindus most definitely believe, is soulless.

Stephen Bloom’s article on Iowa? Pretty much on the nose, though I can only speak from an Iowa City (Athens and/or Sodom of the Midwest, depending) point of view. Of course, he sees it as an outsider who lives there now; I as someone who grew up there and was kicked out.

It’s like family. You love it, you hate it, there’s no place like it in the world, nobody gets to say a damn word against it but me. Well, maybe you guys. And Minnesotans.

And bbkf, you’re right too. Iowans are the nerds of the USA — simultaneously the dorkiest but underneath the coolest people you’ll ever meet. Kinda like you, I bet. 🙂

You sure you just haven’t, you know, gone blind, in addition to those calluses on your hand?

Can I just do it until I need glasses?

In socialist medical monopolies, human lives are literally translated into dollars and cents, because socialism cannot allow each individual life to have a transcendent meaning.

**Sigh**

Yes, my insurance company thinks of me as a “soul”. It says so right in their commercials on the teevee.

Bonus question: I wonder if the author might explain what a transcendent meaning looks like in a hardline capitalist society where people feel no shame in shouting “let him die” at a debate among candidates for the guy (or gal) who has the nuclear codes.

Tom, thanks for your insights I feel that way about my home state(s).

Can I just do it until I need glasses?

Wear gloves.

And moisturize

Yes, my insurance company thinks of me as a “soul”.

Well, I mean, that is what you’ll be left with after they charge you, first an arm and a leg, and then successive body parts, in premiums.

Wait, I thought “Iowa” stands for “I Owe the World an Apology”, or was it “Idiots Out Wandering Around”?

Here in the east, we know that the correct spelling is O-H-I-O.

Also, is it not a little depressing that the idea of sacrifice for the nobility is a sacrifice to God?

Also again, any girl who has had a guy try to sneak into the wrong hole can testify to the feeling of having capitalism jammed into Judeo-Christian values, such as they are.

Our “post-modern” professors like to sneer at that Dead White Man’s philosophy, but they have nothing nearly as humane and life-affirming to offer.

I sold my soul to rock and roll.

Post-modern philosophers like Peter Singer treat human beings as utilitarian walking puppets; in their minds you can kill human babies if they don’t meet some standard of utility.

I don’t know, but I’ve been told that a big-legged woman ain’t got no soul.

That is not just a dystopian fantasy. In socialist medical monopolies, human lives are literally translated into dollars and cents, because socialism cannot allow each individual life to have a transcendent meaning.

Diamonds on the souls of my shoes.

Wingnut Aptitude Test, sample question:

In the sentence “All the post-posties might sneer at Western culture, but our ancestors thought it was right and proper,” the “it” which is “right and proper” is:

A) Western Culture
B) Mohammed
C) Hamlet
D) Porn videos of Ayn Rand fucking Jerry Falwell over the dead body of a liberal hippie.

E) PENIS

F) Reagan

utilitarian walking puppets

Oh! Our human resources!

P??P!

Heathen LIES!!!

FYWP …

Socialism is dehumanizing, because Karl Marx assumed a primitive kind of materialism back in 1848, and they never change the dogma. They are the most ideologically stuck people in the world.
– – – – –
On our campuses all the trendy ignoramuses sneer at Western Civ… today’s trendy rabble rousers…

Leftists are unchanging in their dogmatic fanaticism, but in a totally trendy sort of way.

Leftists are unchanging in their dogmatic fanaticism, but in a totally trendy sort of way.

From the perspective of the person running way behind trends, they neevr do change, since they stay far enough away, it’s impossible to see them

Everyone knows the one thang that every House diagnosis goes to at least once is…

SARCOIDOSIS!
.

Everyone knows the one thang that every House diagnosis goes to at least once is…

SARCOIDOSIS!

And ironically, it’s been lupus precisely one time more than its actually been sarcoidosis.

“If classical music is not your thing, this season you can hear it in Handel’s Messiah:
‘And suddenly, there was the heavenly host
and singeth:
(Chorus)
“Glory to God! Glory to God in the Highest!’
… and they’re off and singing.”

And why should we believe that guy’s an authority on religion (or classical choral music) when he can’t even quote the Bible (or Handel’s libretto) accurately?

he can’t even quote the Bible (or Handel’s libretto) accurately?

Because of the soft bigotry of low expectations. He actually knew who composed The Messiah so we have to pay attention because he’s a very serious person

he can’t even quote the Bible

His Bible probably stops at Leviticus and picks up again at Revelation.

His Bible probably stops at Leviticus and picks up again at Revelation.

Much like his US Constitution, which begins at the second amendment, and also ends there.

His Bible probably stops at Leviticus and picks up again at Revelation.

That’s what he gets for buying his bibles at Bob’s Bargain Bible Bin in Atchafalaya.

And bbkf, you’re right too. Iowans are the nerds of the USA — simultaneously the dorkiest but underneath the coolest people you’ll ever meet. Kinda like you, I bet. 🙂

dude…u nailed it…

Santorum salad. Yes, really.

OT: I just set up Apple TV. Wow, neat. 99 bucks and I can stream Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, and play my iTunes liberry. Pretty neat.

Santorum salad. Yes, really.

Shut up and eat your greens browns.

Shut up and eat lick your greens browns.

FTFY

Santorum salad.

With Astroglide Ranch Dressing.

Can I get the dressing for that on the side?

Handel’s Messiah?

…and the government shall be upon his sho-o-l-durs…

I dunno— I’m thinkin’ maybe he should have spent five more minutes on the lyrics, or something. It doesn’t really come across as a hand of gawd kinda thing.

to me.

anyway.

Handling the messiah.

In a Santorum Salad you get whole cucumbers.

And since I guess I’m kinda establishing myself here, where do I go for guidance in properly quoting and whatnot?

FWIW, I usually just highlight the phrase I want, cut and paste, and then surround it with italic tags ([i] and [/i], but with angle brackets instead of square).

Re your friend and the spa: some more casual Googling suggests that good waterproof sunscreens can help with the photoallergic reactions, which should make it a lot easier to enjoy the trip.

Can I get the dressing for that on the side?

It usually works better when applied to different body part…

Headline: “Santorum Surges from behind in Iowa Cockass””

I am not an Iowan, but some of my best friends are. I have even been to Iowa. Here’s a short travelogue.

In a Santorum Salad you get whole cucumbers.

And two complimentary wetsuits

also too…if ordering a word ceaser actually causes wing nuts to stop fouling our brains with their noxious spewings, I will order it every fucking day…

Word seizure?
.

We have come to bury seizure, not to praise it.

Wuzza-wuzzup, loony libs? You socialist clownerinos checking out the Iowa Caucuses? Looks like you dorkus malorkuses are in for a SPREAD of TRUTH at all the great candidates! Who will win? Who cares! They’re all spectacular specimen if Da Cool Coach says so himself! You’ve got Rockin’ Romney, the great businessman! Ron Paul, who’s got that constitution stuff down pat! Michele Bachmann, who puts a SPREAD in Da Cool Coach’s pants if ya feels me! And the other ones!

You think Obummer can match up with this? Check yo’ heads, ya chumps! Urban out.

Hey, CUM? Whatever happened to Sooper Sarah?

Rockin’ Romney, the great businessman

Good lord, I didn’t know it was possible to get excited about Willard. Higgs bosons and faster than light neutrinos are only so much yawn fodder after this discovery.

Whatever happened to Sooper Sarah?

Heck, look what’s happened to Tim Tebow.

Didn’t this QALY stuff get used to prove the evil of Barack Obama back when it was some wingnut musing about how the NLS would surely have let Stephen Hawking die young if only he were an Englishman?

After that, you’d think they’d have the good grace to just hang their heads and look ashamed if somebody brought it up. But that assumes the existence of shame among wingnuts, and is therefore foolishness.

In a Santorum Salad you get whole cucumbers.

What about croutons?

If he can’t even make up his mind whether the suspiciously corporate profit-whore sounding measurement is called a “QALY” or “QUALY” in the same fucking sentence, why should I pay attention to any of this rambling, cherry-picking pile of lies and projection?

What about croutons?

I’d watch out for the raisins and corn.

If this catches on, we could see other establishments offering menu items in honor of the former Pennsylvania Senator: Santorum soup; Santorum smoothies; pancakes with Santorum syrup; Santorum dippin’ sauce for corndogs; Chips with Santorum salsa; Mashed potatoes n’ Santorum…

Mashed potatoes n’ Santorum…

EWWWW. Just EWWWWWW…

All the post-posties might sneer at Western culture, but our ancestors thought it was right and proper. Their lives had far more pain and troubles than our own, but they believed in the transcendent value of human beings.

Indeed, that’s why all those non-white souls in Africa, South America and Asia love us whiteys so much.

Because our whitey ancestors believed so deeply in the transcendent value of human beings.

All the post-posties might sneer at Western culture, but our ancestors thought it was right and proper. Their lives had far more pain and troubles than our own, but they believed in the transcendent value of human beings.

Indeed, that’s why all those non-white souls in Africa, North America, South America and Asia love us whiteys so much.

Because our whitey ancestors believed so deeply in the transcendent value of human beings.

Rockin’ Romney.

Sure.

Also: Post-Posties – wonderful cereal.

Though not with santorum.

It is in music that the angel chorus can still reach us with undiminished force….There are cherubs (often children) singing in every choral Mass from the Renaissance to Bach and Mozart, in the Romantics, in operas, in children’s choirs, concertos and symphonies going well into the 20th century. If you like classical music you can hear angels riffing wherever a composer can slip them in.

Don’t forget the lilt of Irish laughter.

Mashed potatoes n’ Santorum…

Bubble and squish.

I’m officially sorry I linked to that article.

Actually, I am fond of chicken though it’s been a loooong time since I got me some. I don’t have a thing for Asians but I wouldn’t rule out a romance with Hung Yung Gay Gai.

I’ll pass on the Santorum hot-fudge sundae thank you very much.

Right from the start of the article:

“Good night, sweet Prince,” says Horatio at the climax of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

It is a glorious sentence, a golden nugget of Western civilization. Horatio’s farewell to Hamlet evokes a world in which Hamlet’s tormented soul, after avenging his murdered father, falls dead and ascends to Heaven glorified by a chorus of angels. That is a remarkably humanizing image, one in which Hamlet gives his own life to set things right, and the very heavens celebrate the justice of his cause.

And oops, he accidentally killed his own mom. SO DID JESUS.

I’ll pass on the Santorum hot-fudge sundae thank you very much.

And the Freedumb Poutine

That is a remarkably humanizing image, one in which Hamlet gives his own life to set things right, and the very heavens celebrate the justice of his cause.

Set things right? Really?

Lemme see…his dad dies, which nominally would make him king, except his uncle swoops in before he can return to claim the throne and marries his mother and oh, yea, the uncle killed his father.

So rather than just run the new king through with his sword, he spends endless days agonizing over….what? His bad luck? His mother’s whoredom (must be D-KW’s mom)?

No, he plots his revenge to expose the king, screws that up, forces the woman he loves to kill herself, then kills her father, forcing Laertes to avenge both deaths by using a poisoned sword in cahoots with the king, who doubles down by poisoning a chalice from the palace, which ends up killing Moms AND the king, and Laertes ends up being killed by the same sword with which he does manage to slice into Hamlet, thus poisoning BOTH of them and leaving Denmark with no king to protect the country from the invasion by Fortinbras, who was marching on Denmark to avenge the death of HIS father by Hamlet’s father.

Yea. He set things aright, alright….

Yea. He set things aright, alright

didn’t cerbs bring back a comment mango re: liebrals re- write history? and none of them noticed that dipshit here is re-writing shakespeare in the narrative that daily runs through his head?

women die…oh, well…they’re just wimmens,,,no biggie…lol!
men die: but this is okay because it’s war!

it seems death is truly okay to them in the right circumstances…I.e. NOT GHEY ABORTIONS

Yea. He set things aright, alright….

The rest is silence.

also too…I am frankly surprised he didn’t go with something from ‘henry v’…

And the other ones!

Reminds me of, “and the rest” from the Gilligan’s Island themesong.

saw this dude at the royal national….I would totes jump into that breach again…

I would totes jump into thatose breachitches again

FTFY.

Honest, officer, it was dead when I got here!

Coach, why weren’t you going on about the SPREAD of SANTORUM?

Dorkus Malorkus is precious, however. Is that Gingrich, or Cain?

I got nuttin’. Well, cats, as usual. Like I said… nuttin’.
.

If Dorkus Malorkus were to marry the Porkulus…

Now I want Urkel-Os.

Were Urkel-o’s REAL?

Was that character THAT popular? Good god.

What do Urkel-o’s taste like? 5 delicious fruit flavors and fleeting fame I bet.

5 delicious fruit flavors and fleeting fame I bet.

Oooh! Snap! That’s gonna leave a mark.

First, the Smut Clyde Corn, now the Urkel-O’s!

Steve, Don’t Eat It provides a valuable service.

This is apparently what the kid who played Urkel looks like now.

Crickets.

Santorum 24.3
Romney 23.7
Paul 21.6

With 52 percent counted.

A frothy mix of results.

Romney eats Santorum’s “dust”.

Oh that this too too sullied flesh would melt
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew
Or that teh Everlasting had not fixed
His canon against self-slaughter, Oh God God,
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Except your mom. Who is a sweet sweet piece of easy.

And teh first voting machine correction occurs – Romney now +0.5% over Frothy Mixture.

I’m kinda hoping for a Rick win – if only to bring us moar Dan Savage interviews.

I’m amused that with ten candidates ibcluding “Other”, teh Teap Party wing picked four in succession – Bachmann, Perry, Cain and Gingrich – none of whom are in teh running despite teh fact that it’s a three-way* tie.

*Eeeeuuw.

Peter Singer does, in fact, argue for killing babies. Like, babies babies.

http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Ethics-ebook/dp/B004YPJ8SM/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1325649237&sr=8-15

But imagine if you were a Huntsman supporter. Hee hee, wot kinda of nutjob roots for someone pulling in 0.6% of teh votes? Totes outta touch and completely bilind to facts or reality. IOW, teh Punditocracy.

Peter Singer does, in fact, argue for killing babies. Like, babies babies.

Not really my taste, but I always though he played a mean banjo.

I’ve read Practical Ethics. I recommend going to that Amazon page and buying a copy for EVERYBODY! Babies too!

Oh now, don’t be hatin on ol’ Pete Seeger. His protest songs were awesome but I thought he really came into his own with Night Moves.

Oh now, don’t be hatin on ol’ Pete Seeger. His protest songs were awesome but I thought he really came into his own with Night Moves.

I just can’t forgive him for sending Popeye and Bluto over Rickenbacher Falls.

From actor212

“Welcome aboard. Tell us about yourself.

“And would you like to see my etchings?”

Thanks, but you are clearly sucking up to curry favor! (Wasn’t that an odd accusation I saw leveled at you, and didn’t I also see you address that with good natured self-deprecation?)

There is either not much to tell or entirely too much. I think I’ll just be a Woman of Mystery for now. By a commenter’s works shall ye know her and all that, so there will be plenty of opportunities for me to screw up bigtime in the future.

Did somebody say “curry flavor?!!” no? Can I the fuck back to bed?

Most people suck after eating curry, not before.

Well. I guess that all comments on this site are subjected to base puns and depraved innuendo. All I can say to this response to my attempts at communications is….

HONEY(S), I’M HOME! (And thanks for the big, somewhat sticky hug)

Thanks, but you are clearly sucking up to curry favor! (Wasn’t that an odd accusation I saw leveled at you, and didn’t I also see you address that with good natured self-deprecation?)

I’m more a chutney guy, myself.

I am obligated to point out that the words “banjo”, “suck” and “vacuum” have appeared in close proximity AND IT WASN’T A JOKE!

Wow. Iowans caucuses were covered in Santorum.

I suppose you mean “Caesar.”

Word Caesar.

I continue to be amazed that Karl Marx was a post-modernist before there was even modernism. How the hell did that happen?

Namaste, bitches.