3
Présenté Sans Commentaire
From “A Conservative Summer: An NRO Symposium on Books“.
If there were only one book on conservatism you could recommend to a newcomer, what would it be and why?
The Complete Poetry of Robert Frost. Not very detailed at the policy level, but lots of reality. (Richard Brookhiser)
§
Is there any recent book that’s made you want to buy copies for everyone you know and love?
I sent out a number of copies of America Alone. (Mona Charen)
§
Are there any summer movies you’re looking forward to?
No. Maybe Hollywood is past its heyday, but can’t they at least make comedies as good as My Cousin Vinny? (Dinesh D’Souza)
§
Are there any summer movies you’re looking forward to?
No. But I do think conservatives should start organizing — and big time — in Hollywood. Imagine, the head of the Screen Actors Guild making it all the way to the presidency and to this very day failing to attain the industry’s “life-time achievement award.” I recommend that conservatives even thinking of going to the movies, take the $10. they would have spent on movies and send them to the Reagan Ranch Foundation. (Alvin S. Felzenberg)
§
Is there any recent book that’s made you want to buy copies for everyone you know and love? Did you actually make the purchases?One of the most important books of the century: My Grandfather’s Son, by Clarence Thomas.
You know what would have made a great graduation gift? I just dusted off an old copy of Peggy Noonan’s public-speaking book. For gals who are naturally shy or men expected not to be — it’s a skill and a good read, as Peggy always is. (Kathryn Jean Lopez)
§
Is there one book that you’d recommend to uplift and inspire depressed conservatives this summer?
I should probably say the Bible. In fact . . . maybe I will. (Jay Nordlinger)
§
What’s the best political novel you’ve ever read? Why is it the best?
The best remains George Orwell’s 1984. Through it, fiction becomes a vehicle for expressing truth, namely, the bleak, moral wasteland of communism and Stalinism’s relentless attack upon individual liberty. The collectivist system inexorably grinds down the dignity of each person, or, in the novel’s case, its two leading protagonists. “Do it to Julia!” shouts Winston, in 1984’s macabre conclusion. In their final, pathetic meeting, Julia confesses a similar transgression to Winston: “Sometimes they threaten you with something — something you can’t stand up to, can’t even think about . . . You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself.”
To my mind, we can never read enough Orwell. His essays and books are like intellectual depth charges, detonating the smug operating assumptions of large swaths of our cultural elite. His masterpiece, 1984, written 60 years ago, is relevant today. “Newspeak,” the sterile official language of Oceana, anticipates the politically correct, sanitized idiom of our time, when the Department of Homeland Security has instructed its officials to refer to men like Osama Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as “the dangerous cult leaders that they are,” but not as “jihadists,” “Islamists” or “holy warriors.” According to the Orwellian DHS press release accompanying its new guidelines, “Words matter.” George Orwell would agree, which is why, if he were writing today, he would call these fanatics exactly what they are: radical Islamic terrorists, sanguinary butchers, evil murderers.
Thankfully, elements of Western culture are starting to see Orwell’s vision more clearly; his worldview has been reflected in recent works of art, literature, and theater, including a Broadway revival of Shakespeare’s Macbeth that excoriates Stalin, a production recently reviewed by Andrew Stuttaford, NRO’s indefatigable critic of the desolate legacy of the Soviet dictator. (Joseph Morrison Skelly)
Me said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:38
Imagine, the head of the Screen Actors Guild making it all the way to the presidency and to this very day failing to attain the industry’s “life-time achievement award.”
Yeah, just imagine. The poor sod had to settle for being a two-term President of the United States.
There’s absolutely nothing they won’t kvetch about, is there?
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:39
I never realized one could so painfully misread 1984.
Something tells me young Joey Skelly got an “Unsatisfactory” mark on many, many book reports.
El Cid said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:47
Yes, surely if Orwell were alive today he’d be just like Hitchens pre-waterboarding realization, jumping up & down and insisting we all commit ourselves to a war to exterminate Islamic extremists and demanding we use exactly the names for them he preferred.
(I guess the whole thing of Orwell having modeled Newspeak on the British government’s wartime broadcasting restrictions on permitted vocabulary use in broadcasts to colonial areas kind of escaped them.)
D.N. Nation said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:48
From “Provide, Provide”:
Better to go down dignified
With boughten friendship at your side
Than none at all
Provide, provide.
I’m not going to just come out and say it sounds like a warning to the denziens of America’s Shittiest Website, but…oh, wait, I did just say that.
Because he was a B-list star, maybe? Just maybe. He got the “lifetime achievement award” (that is, ever-present adulation from dittoheads) in the field he had more success in.
Man, these people whine.
I’ve gotten to where I can’t mock K-Lo anymore. I just don’t have the heart.
Yeah, mom and dad, whip out some Peggy Noonan for the grads to enjoy. Noted hipster Kathryn Jean Lopez said so!
plus C said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:48
Hey, just because he was a self-declared Socialist who fought with the POUM in the Spanish civil war doesn’t mean… hold on (sniffing more glue)… doesn’t mean that he wasn’t really a conservative at heart.
Bill said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:48
Wow, that interpretation of 1984 just makes my head spin. Only a crazy neo-con could spin 1984 into a rejection of political correctness. Any freshman in high school who read the book would point to propaganda and lack of free thought as two of the most important points in the book.
Plus, for someone who claims that one can “never read enough Orwell,” he’s obviously not touched Politics and the English Language.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:52
Hey, you know what book is too long? 1984. Pfft, I’d rather have read 984 or maybe just 84.
Also Fahrenheit 451? Too long. Next time try Fahrenheit 45 or so.
Dreamweasel said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:52
We have always been at war with
Iran… er, Eastasia!Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:52
Slaughterhouse 2 and a half!
Blue Buddha said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:53
Could it be that the SAG didn’t hand out awards until 1995? Could it also be that Reagan was a lousy actor?
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:54
I sent out a number of copies of America Alone. (Mona Charen)
Shouldn’t you only have had one copy of that book? I guess I’m unclear about this whole Alone thing. Oh wait - one is a number!
nolo said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:55
If conservatives want to concede that Reagan’s presidency was an acting job, then maybe I can see SAG giving him some kind of award for it.
zeppo said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:57
Mankind’s ability for self-deception is apparently unlimited.
Animal Farm was a book about nice friendly animals who got along with everyone but didn’t like being told what to do by those nasty evil liberals who lived up in the house.
Rufus said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:58
“But I do think conservatives should start organizing — and big time — in Hollywood.”
Sounds like a Commie to me. I think the HUAC may have some questions for Mr. Alvin S. Felzenberg. I bet the “S” stands for Socialist. Or Stalin.
spencer said,
July 3, 2008 at 17:59
Was Ronald Reagan in one single movie that was even remotely memorable?
I ask this in all sincerity, since I know nothing at all about his filmography (but I assume that if there were anything worthwhile in there, I’d have heard about it ad nauseum).
Bill said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:01
Well, we did get the “Win one for the Gipper” speech from his movie about Knute Rockne, I’ll give him that.
Ann Hussein Althouse's Surprisingly Revealing Burqa said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:04
His big “Where’s the rest of me?” freakout scene in King’s Row is memorable.
El Cid said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:07
Capsule Review: 1984 was a good book about how Stalinists were evil and how we have to kill Muslims.
MzNicky said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:08
Animal Farm was a book about nice friendly animals who got along with everyone but didn’t like being told what to do by those nasty evil liberals who lived up in the house.
And Lord of the Flies told the totally non-allegorical tale of a bunch of sweet schoolboys camping out on an island and discovering how well libertarianism works.
MzNicky said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:09
Was Ronald Reagan in one single movie that was even remotely memorable?
You seem to forget the classic “Bedtime for Bonzo.”
roy edroso said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:10
I have a more sympathetic interpretation of the Brookhiser thing. He has at other times tried to remind his dimwitted colleagues that some things precede politics, and I think here he was trying to induce the literature-averse toads to read a real work of art and perhaps blow some dust out of their skulls. Calling it “conservative” might be the only thing that would do it.
Or course Brookhiser’s usually a complete asshole, so either way is okay by me.
kiki said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:10
“it’s a skill and a good read, as Peggy always is”
Peggy’s book is a skill?
Peggy is a skill, and a good read?
That’s a retarded comment and fat, as K-Lo always is.
D.N. Nation said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:10
Kings Row was nominated for Best Picture and Reagan’s performance is contextually iconic.
Add that to the Gipper stuff, and what do you have? Not a lifetime achievement award. It’d be if we gave one, based on performances just up to now, to….oh…James McAvoy or someone.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:12
Shorter Alvin S. Felzenberg: There are books written by people other than William F Buckley?
sophronia said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:13
I don’t think the wingnuts allow themselves to like Reagan in Kings Row, because he was still a Democrat then, and he was playing a cad who shacked up with Ann Sheridan.
I think they prefer to pretend that Reagan somehow had Jimmy Stewart’s career.
Scott said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:13
And “The Handmaid’s Tale” was about women needing to shut up and breed.
kiki said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:14
Oh, and the name of the fictional nation in your favouritest most favourite book ever ever is Oceania, you ignorant fuck.
Garrigus Carraig said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:14
What would Orwell have called the Department of Homeland Security?
kiki said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:17
What would Orwell have called the Department of Homeland Security?
Well, seeing as it has nothing to do with protecting the homeland, I guess the Party, which always names everything the opposite of what it is, would’ve called it… um… the Department of Homeland Security.
Principal Blackman said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:17
And Lord of the Flies told the totally non-allegorical tale of a bunch of sweet schoolboys camping out on an island and discovering how well libertarianism works.
Ha! That is awesome. I believe America’s Shittiest Website would like to hire you as the in-house book reviewer.
Flappy McScrotum said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:20
“The Trial” lays out the perfect blue-print for prosecuting modern terrorism cases.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:21
EWwww, ewww, eww. Yuck. I got it in my brain, and now you’ll all have to suffer too:
Rightwingsnarkle said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:22
That’s an impressive group of culture vultures.
What do you call a group of vultures?
A clutch? A gaggle? A Malkin of vultures?
pedestrian said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:24
Yeah, yeah, and Donald Rumsfeld thinks that young people should study history.
MzNicky said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:25
Principal Blackman:
Thanks, but my current job is already Orwellian enough. Around the office we regularly call each other “Winston.”
MzNicky said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:30
“And she thanks Ed Meese for saving her life in it”
It’s as though with every single thing she pens K-Lo TRIES to write as bad as she can. In it.
tigrismus said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:31
Can’t argue with Frost as a recommendation. I’d say they could maybe read a little Wilfred Owen next, but the Orwell reader convinces me it wouldn’t take.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:34
It’s as though with every single thing she pens K-Lo TRIES to write as bad as she can. In it.
K-Lo’s answer to the first question What’s the best political novel you’ve ever read? Why is it the best? is a list of four authors. Normally I’d just let this go as wingtards aren’t particularly good at reading comprehehnsion (see rest of this thread) but she wrote the fucking questions.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:38
Granted, for three of the authors she provides links to individual books, but not for the name at the top of the list. Let’s not even consider how she addressed the question of Why is it the best?
Oh, and for bonus EWWWwwwww, the last of the four is the Scooter Libby bestiality novel.
BlackBloc said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:40
>>And Lord of the Flies told the totally non-allegorical tale of a bunch of sweet schoolboys camping out on an island and discovering how well libertarianism works
Oh yeah? And where do the hobbits fit in your analysis, smart ass?
The right-wingers are incapable of reading 1984 as anything but a conservative book, because they are incapable of imagining that people might have politics that are similar in many ways yet NOT agree with each other. Even worse, attacking each other instead of uniting together with unsavory people on your own side of the aisle to bust your political opponents.
“Orwell attacks Stalinism, so by extension he must be attacking the entire Left, because leftists and liberals are just Stalinists in disguise. Just like us conservatives are fascists in… err, no, no, wait. We’re NOT projecting. YOU Lieberals are the *real* fascists actually. This is central to my point.”
Jake H. said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:40
That’s a retarded comment and fat, as K-Lo always is.
This is just awful and needlessly cruel. The worst part is that it made me laugh out loud. I’m a bad person and I hate you for proving it.
Rightwingsnarkle said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:41
Was Ronald Reagan in one single movie that was even remotely memorable?
Aside from the two highlights already mentioned, plus ‘Bedtime for Bonzo,’ and not forgetting teh immortal ‘Hellcats of the Navy,’ it’s a career most notable for its relentess craptacularity.
Zifnab said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:42
If you don’t study history, how will you repeat it?
Jake H. said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:45
So what would be the modern equivalent of a Reagan presidency? Steven Weber from Wings? Michael Rappaport? Sean Williams Scott? I need to know these things.
Zifnab said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:46
If liberals are Facists and Stalinists and Marxists and Islamists and Atheists and Ivory Tower Elitists and Dirty Fucking Hippies and Militant Vegans and Welfare Queens, what does that leave for conservatives? It appears that liberals have consumed the entire ideological space. Perhaps this is why Michael Moore is so fat.
Zifnab said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:47
They did try to run Fred Thompson.
mikey said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:47
Man. I’d REALLY like to know if these asshats are stupid or lying.
Can they REALLY not see it? Do they actually, somehow, not get it?
I mean, even if you thought they were the bestest decisions ever, you’d STILL have to acknowledge that it was the bush/cheney administration that brought us indefinite detention without due process, wiretapping without warrants, the end of habeas and the aggressive and unprovoked invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation. These are dictatorial acts, and to act as if the threat of fascism comes from the left exclusively HAS to be either disingenuous or blindly stupid.
I’d just like to know which it is…
mikey
Jake H. said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:48
They did try to run Fred Thompson.
Gah! How did I not get this one?? Sometimes it’s just too easy I guess.
Vizzini said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:48
Yeah, yeah, and Donald Rumsfeld thinks that young people should study history.
Never get involved in a land war in Asia!
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:50
It appears that liberals have consumed the entire ideological space. Perhaps this is why Michael Moore is so fat.
Awesome.
Jake H. said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:52
I mean, even if you thought they were the bestest decisions ever, you’d STILL have to acknowledge that it was the bush/cheney administration that brought us indefinite detention without due process, wiretapping without warrants, the end of habeas and the aggressive and unprovoked invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation. These are dictatorial acts…
But those things were awesome and freedom-y, so when you call them dictatorial acts, you’re engaging in what George F. Buckley Orwell would call “newspeak.”
Given that McCain is such a weak candidate and conservatives are so lukewarm on him, it’s a shame that we haven’t figured out how to clone dead cells yet. Then, we could have the dream conservative ticket of Martin Luther King Jr. and George Orwell! I know you’d have to amend the Constitution to make Orwell the veep, but it would be worth it.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:53
Some more K-Lo-tastic battling of against grammar-fascism for you:
Reading this would make my brain and I hurt, considering a recent bagel and I, inspired started though.
fadegeophile said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:55
AAAAAI Teh Stupid! It Burnssssssssseseses!!!!!1111!!!!√121!!!
Rugosa said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:56
Could someone tell these guys that no one supports Stalin anymore? I don’t think he even got any write-in votes in the last presidential election. Or are dead horses the only ones they find satisfaction in beating?
fadegeophile said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:56
Doesn’t K-Lo edit something?
Sad.
fadegeophile said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:58
I’m going with indefatigably stupid
Zifnab said,
July 3, 2008 at 18:58
Actually, he’s still very big over in Putin’s Russia. But, you know, George Bush looked into Putin’s eyes and saw his soul and blah blah blah that doesn’t count.
MzNicky said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:00
it was the bush/cheney administration that brought us indefinite detention without due process, wiretapping without warrants, the end of habeas and the aggressive and unprovoked invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation.
Which is of course central to their point(ed heads), mikey! You lament the loss of such liebral-fascism as if it were a bad thing.
Zifnab said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:01
Ultimately, the wingnuts aren’t bothered by Stalin’s authoritarian government or his massive military crusades or his nuclear weapons or his brutal murder of millions of his own citizens. What bothers the wingnut about Stalin was that Stalin took things from rich people. And - property rights being the most important thing in the history of the known universe - this sin made Old Joe the worst human being since Karl Marx, who originally came up with the idea of taking things from rich people.
Matt said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:01
#
Blue Buddha said,
No. But I do think conservatives should start organizing — and big time — in Hollywood. Imagine, the head of the Screen Actors Guild making it all the way to the presidency and to this very day failing to attain the industry’s “life-time achievement award.”
Could it be that the SAG didn’t hand out awards until 1995? Could it also be that Reagan was a lousy actor?
The reason SAG hasn’t honored Reagen with any award, is that he sold the union down the river many times. During his first SAG presidency (1947-51), he was an informant for the FBI, (his number was T-10, read “City of Nets” by Otto Friedrich, among other books) and he secretly informed on many actors during the blacklist period to the bureau. Reagen’s second term, (1959), had him structure the “resiudal” deal that to this day allows the studios and corporations to screen any pre 1960 film in any form and not pay SAG or the actor’s residuals, fees or anything of any sort. The SAG board of trustees and directors will take a long time to forgive him for his actions. The irony is that Reagen is the only U.S. president ever to head a union or guild and he’s hated by the very organization that catapulated him into his political career.
FuriousGeorge said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:02
I haven’t seen WALL-E yet and am curious. I’ve enjoyed Pixar and the controversy has me intrigued. I’d like to see for myself
Somebody’s going to have to fill me in on this one. Isn’t it a movie about an adorable robot who likes to play with trash? Meant for kids?
Itchy Brother said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:04
How is it possible that someone could invoke Orwell, cite Newspeak and the Department of Homeland Security, and get it all so wrong. We’re doomed.
Jonah Pantload Goldberg said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:09
What no love for the very serious, thoughtful, argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care? Well, not to worry, you’ll all be delighted by my next book. It’s a biography called Joseph Stalin: Founder of the ACLU. All I need now is another advance check and some volunteers to do a little research for me.
Dragon-King Wanchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:16
Somebody’s going to have to fill me in on this one. Isn’t it a movie about an adorable robot who likes to play with trash? Meant for kids?
In the future, everyone is fat. Suggesting possible consequences for over-indulgence and consumption is Anti-American.
Gerald Curl said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:16
What would Orwell have called the Department of Homeland Security?
That was my favoritest part. Skelly’s level of unawareness is breathtaking.
I also love that you can’t mention the cinema among a group of conservatives without at least one of them saying “We need to make our own movies!” Aaaaahhh, just do it already and quit talking about it! Hit up some sources of wingnut welfare, buy a DV camera and start your little masterpiece. I’m sure NRO et al. would gladly promote whatever shit you film.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:16
Wordpress bit the end off my Wang.
Susan of Texas said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:19
I hate it when that happens, and I don’t even have a wang.
pedestrian said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:20
What would Orwell have thought of his name being used do do the same fucking things he was trying to warn against? I don’t think that he would have been very surprised.
Susan of Texas said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:21
He would have to say that it’s Myselfian.
PaminBB said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:28
” I recommend that conservatives even thinking of going to the movies, take the $10. they would have spent on movies and send them to the Reagan Ranch Foundation. (Alvin S. Felzenberg)”
There be some mean wurd skilz. These people get paid for this shit?
Jason said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:29
My Cousin Vinny. Are you serious Souza.
Principal Blackman said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:31
So what would be the modern equivalent of a Reagan presidency? Steven Weber from Wings? Michael Rappaport? Sean Williams Scott? I need to know these things.
I say Ted McGinley.
El Cid said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:32
The Davinci Code: This book was okay, it was about this professor talking about some pieces of art, and then there were these other people who fought about what he said.
Moon Dragon said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:35
When it comes to 1984, I’m reminded of what makes warrantless wiretapping so insidious. When the government knows what you love and fear, they can control you. Plots and plans against the state (which they will only catch sporadically and inconsistently) are much less threatening to them than a free citizenry. It isn’t what they know about what you want to do that’s important. It’s what they know about you that gives them the edge.
FuriousGeorge said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:37
” I recommend that conservatives even thinking of going to the movies, take the $10. they would have spent on movies and send them to the Reagan Ranch Foundation. (Alvin S. Felzenberg)”
I like the non sequitur nature of the response. “Instead of buying toys for your kids this Christmas, which were made in Godless China, make a donation in their honor to Focus on the Family.”
Jake H. said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:37
I also love that you can’t mention the cinema among a group of conservatives without at least one of them saying “We need to make our own movies!” Aaaaahhh, just do it already and quit talking about it!
They would, but they’re incapable because talent has a liberal bias.
Jake H. said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:40
” I recommend that conservatives even thinking of going to the movies, take the $10. they would have spent on movies and send them to the Reagan Ranch Foundation. (Alvin S. Felzenberg)”
If you were thinking of going out tonight and having fun, don’t! That is all.
Dhalgren said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:42
Shit, how can you mock answers like these when they are real? They say they reject Hollywood while we all know they pay their bloody $11 like everyone else. They say 1984 is a rejection of political correctness, while in the same breath spew today’s newspeak regarding Islamofascism. Peggy Noonan is a skill and a good read. And Robert Frost, a very closeted gay author, is the best poet for a Wingnut. This shit is priceless.
Jay B. said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:43
To my mind [sic -- ed.], we can never read enough Orwell. His essays and books are like intellectual depth charges [because they blew his mind?], detonating the smug operating assumptions of large swaths of our cultural elite. His masterpiece, 1984, written 60 years ago, is relevant today [because of Stalin, right?]. “Newspeak,” the sterile official language of Oceana, anticipates the politically correct, sanitized idiom of our time, when the Department of Homeland Security has instructed its officials to refer to men like Osama Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as “the dangerous cult leaders that they are,” but not as “jihadists,” “Islamists” [Because we've always been at war with Islam?]or “holy warriors” [Many Christians ALSO consider themselves such] According to the Orwellian DHS press release accompanying its new guidelines, “Words matter.” George Orwell would agree, which is why, if he were writing today, he would call these fanatics exactly what they are: radical Islamic terrorists, sanguinary butchers, evil murderers.[The government hasn't said these things?]
You know, dangerous cult leaders is probably what an atheist would call them, especially an atheist who famously wrote that to be absolutely clear in language and meaning one must use the language which the audience best understands. Therefore, “jihadists” would be an absolute no-no-. Fanatic, sure. Murderer? Sure. Cult leader? Sounds pretty direct for someone who, in rejecting religion, would think any religion is a cult. Words matter you fucking idiot.
Thankfully, elements of Western culture are starting to see Orwell’s vision more clearly; his worldview has been reflected in recent works of art, literature, and theater, including a Broadway revival of Shakespeare’s Macbeth that excoriates Stalin, a production recently reviewed by Andrew Stuttaford, NRO’s indefatigable critic of the desolate legacy of the Soviet dictator. (Joseph Morrison Skelly)
???
Hating on STALIN = Brave truth telling in 2008??!?!
Literal insanity. Profound stupidity.
You know, and this is a big secret evidently, Leon Trotsky — a fairly well-known Marxist — shared in Skelly’s mistrust of the Man of Steel. So did Harry Truman. If only someone other than Orwell had shared this with us earlier!!
Dhalgren said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:43
Where on the political spectrum were those who fed over $100 Million to The Passion and Apocalypto? 24? All those kids movies? We ultra liberal fascists don’t have any friggin’ kids.
Pinko said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:44
RE: Skelly… this has got to be one of the most bizarre mis-readings of any book I’ve ever come across…
“The collectivist system inexorably grinds down the dignity of each person, or, in the novel’s case, its two leading protagonists.”
Perhaps someone needs to tell him that 1984’s two leading protagonists are NOT O’Brien and Syme…
Jay B. said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:45
Now if the National Review would finally come out against Franco, we’d know they reject authoritarianism altogether.
ignatov said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:47
“Was Ronald Reagan in one single movie that was even remotely memorable?”
“That Hagen Girl” (1947). Reagan romances a decades-younger Shirley Temple, who might be his daughter. Terrible but memorable.
Jay B. said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:52
He was sinister good in his last flick The Killers. Very good film from the pitiless Don Siegel.
Duros Hussein 62 said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:53
Maybe Hollywood is past its heyday, but can’t they at least make comedies as good as My Cousin Vinny? (Dinesh D’Souza)
May I just add, Bwahahahaha!!!
So what would be the modern equivalent of a Reagan presidency? Steven Weber from Wings? Michael Rappaport? Sean Williams Scott? I need to know these things.
Isn’t it painfully obvious? Guttenburg.
stryx said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:58
I’m sure NRO et al. would gladly promote whatever shit you film.
It worked for that one guy who Bush never met.
Red Scorpion!
Ken Lowery said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:58
Hit up some sources of wingnut welfare, buy a DV camera and start your little masterpiece.
they did. It was called Expelled, and was made by a company that was in many ways a response to Participant.
To tally:
CONSERVATIVES: Expelled
LIBERALS: North Country, Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck, An Inconvenient Truth, etc, etc…
You tell me who wins.
Gus said,
July 3, 2008 at 19:58
There are just not enough ways to express how fucking stupid these people are.
Gerald Curl said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:07
Skelly quotes a passage from Dick Morris’s book: “In the entire year 2007, the House of Representatives worked only three five-day workweeks.” But when I went on the Library of Congress’s THOMAS website, it showed that the 2007 House was in session for 13 full weeks. And according to my calculations, that’s ten more than three.
A little more research found that the last Republican House in a non-election year (2005) had 44 fewer session days than the 2007 House. So where did they find these 44 extra days if they didn’t work more than 3 Fridays? [Additional fun fact: when Rep. Ray LaHood and 8 other House Republicans retired at the end of 2007, LaHood said the new five-day workweek played a big role in all of their retirements.]
Who would have thought that Dick Morris is a lying asshole?
Sarcastro said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:08
Could it also be that Reagan was a lousy actor?
He was as good an actor as he was a politician.
So yes, it was that he was a lousy actor.
MajorKong said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:09
George Orwell is banging on the lid of his coffin and screaming “1984 was a cautionary tale, not a how-to manual you freakin’ idiots!!!!!!”
Duros Hussein 62 said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:15
Andrew Stuttaford, NRO’s indefatigable critic of the desolate legacy of the Soviet dictator.
Hold on, is that a staff position?
tigrismus said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:17
When the government knows what you love and fear, they can control you.
I’m afraid of, among other things, fresh cherries straight out of the fridge, dark chocolate, and all sorts of alcoholic beverages. I love paying a lot for a muffler.
MzNicky said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:20
I’m sure NRO et al. would gladly promote whatever shit you film.
Now I’ve got this “Be Kind Rewind” meta-meta-movie in my head, with Doughy in the Jack Black role gettin’ all magnetized (actually, that’s not a bad image at all) and the whole lot of NRO-ers running around in cardboard costumes doing remakes of Ronald Reagan movies. I have to go lie down now.
Spiders Everywhere said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:24
Soooooo, the essence of collectivism is not giving a damn about other people, and only caring about yourself? Someone dig up Ayn Rand, she’s got some revisin’ to do.
OneMadClown said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:27
If we could hook up a generator to harness the power of Orwell furiously spinning in his grave, we’d have this whole fossil fuel problem licked. Need more power? Have Skelly write another book report. The only pollution is the residual stoopid.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:32
Need more power? Have Skelly write another book report. The only pollution is the residual stoopid.
Not worth it. That’s toxic waste we’re talking about there.
g said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:32
Somebody’s going to have to fill me in on this one. Isn’t it a movie about an adorable robot who likes to play with trash? Meant for kids?
I think it’s because somewhere in there is a joke about George Bush. Which means, of course, that Wall-E is a lying, liberal propaganda film bent on indoctrinating children.
another jim said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:33
Mockery pales compared to simple reporting of these notions.
Orwell - who actually fought on the side of the leftist Anarchists against Franco in Spain - is a prophet of conservative political correctness.
People’s reality tunnels are quite fascinating.
Piggy said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:35
“To my mind, we can never read enough Orwell. His essays and books are like intellectual depth charges, detonating the smug operating assumptions of large swaths of our cultural elite”
Hmm….
“The inefficiency of private capitalism has been proved all over Europe. It’s injustice has been proved in the East End of London”
“It is very necessary that industry should be nationalised, but it is more urgently necessary that such monstrosities as butlers and ‘private incomes’ should disappear forthwith”
“Patriotism has nothing to do with Conservatism. It is actually the opposite of Conservatism”
“We need… limitation of incomes on such a scale that the highest tax free income in Britain does not exceed the lowest by more than ten to one”
-’The Lion and The Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius’ by George Orwell
tigrismus said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:39
Well, Piggy, I guess, being depth charges and all, those go off below the level of his understanding, just too darn deep for him to notice.
OneMadClown said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:39
Not worth it. That’s toxic waste we’re talking about there.
True, but we can always turn the executive offices of NRO (Lucianne’s basement) into a fortified landfill.
Jay B. said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:40
Except that stuff, Piggy, sheesh
.
Gerald Curl said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:40
the whole lot of NRO-ers running around in cardboard costumes doing remakes of Ronald Reagan movies
I’m thinking of a remake of “The Big Chill” where they’d all be gathered around Buckley’s corpse. Instead of a soundtrack of 60s classics, there’d be an endless loop of burps and farts.
OneMadClown said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:42
Instead of a soundtrack of 60s classics, there’d be an endless loop of burps and farts.
Recorded on the cheap in Jonah’s cubicle.
Doctorb said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:44
I like the Orwell generator, but Skelly produces weapons-grade stoopid, so there’s a security issue.
Rightwingsnarkle said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:45
I’m thinking of a remake of “The Big Chill” where they’d all be gathered around Buckley’s corpse
Oooo, ooo - I wanna shoot the intro, with a Marvin Gaye soundtrack playing in the background.
That would be awesome.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:45
Hey Piggy - Shucks to your ass-mar. George Orwell was a conservative hero, just like George Carlin. George is a conservative name and you’ll not be saying no mean liberal stuff about it.
</winger>
Doctorb said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:46
Also, it’s a shame — and positively Orwellian — that DHS officials aren’t allowed to say that Osama bin Laden is holy.
D.N. Nation said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:49
Got off of work a couple of hours ago for the holiday, been drinking and watching backlogged MythBusters episodes with the ol’ TiVO since, and I can say pretty confidently that I still have a better grip of the fucking English language than K-Lo at this juncture.
Hoosier X said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:54
Have you ever seen any of the Brass Bancroft movies? Reagan played a Secret Service pilot and had all kinds of crazy adventures.
(Supposedly he was a booster of the “Star Wars” weapon system because of the plost of one of the Brass Bancroft movies.)
They are hysterical. They are not, on aevrage, any worse than the typical film series of the 1930s and 1940s. (Which means some of them are pretty bad.) I love ‘em.
Supposedly, the second one, “Code of the Secret Service,” was so bad that Reagan begged the studio not to release it in L.A. because he was afraid it would hurt his career. The studio complied, and just a few years ago, TCM showed it, and they called that its “L.A. premiere.”
It wasn’t good, but I didn’t see that it was any worse than the first one. (They are both funnier than Hell.)
(For the record, I love the action film series of the period. I have several Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto films on DVD and I watch them over and over. Ronald Reagan is no Peter Lorre or Sydney Toler.)
BlackBloc said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:57
>>this sin made Old Joe the worst human being since Karl Marx, who originally came up with the idea of taking things from rich people.
Certainly .I mean, before the Bearded One, there was no such thing as, say, the Diggers, the Levellers, or the Paris Commune.
>>Orwell - who actually fought on the side of the leftist Anarchists
He fought with the POUM who were, I believe, Trotskyists. Or at the very least, Marxists who didn’t agree with the (Stalin-controlled) Communist Party that they needed to wait until after the republic was restored to be militantly in favor of the revolution.
He didn’t agree with the POUM (or Anarchists) either on the political front, but he was politically suspect just because he had happened to fight on their side on the front and thus knew some of them personally as dedicated revolutionaries rather than the retconned ‘Trotsky fascist 5th column’ that the Stalinists tried to paint them as.
Hoosier X said,
July 3, 2008 at 20:57
If they didn’t want people to ridicule the president, they shouldn’t have offered up such a ridiculous fart bubble for the presidency.
Be nice?
I AM being nice!
ohioans everywhere said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:01
Does Joseph Morrison Skelly want DHS to refer to al-Qa’ida and assorted terrorists as “holy warriors”? In what twisted worldview is it bad to call bin Laden a dangerous cult leader, but good to say that he’s fighting for God?
pedestrian said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:08
If they didn’t want people to ridicule the president, they shouldn’t have offered up such a ridiculous fart bubble for the presidency.
It’s like when rightwingers go crazy over a villain who resembles Dick Cheney. I mean who was it that picked The Penguin for Vice President? Not us. Next they are going to nominate Baron Sinister von TwirlyMustache and ruin a whole slew of old cartoons for themselves.
Piggy said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:14
Oh…. you reckon…
How about…
“Every line of serious work I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism”
- ‘Why I Write’ by George Orwell
…or perhaps by cultural elites he means Jonah Goldberg…
“the idea underlying Fascism is irreconcilably different from that which underlies Socialism”
- ‘The Lion and The Unicorn’ by George Orwell
“The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so as it signifies ’something undesirable’”
- ‘Politics and The English Language’ by George Orwell
Baron Sinister von TwirlyMustache said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:14
Alas I regret that I can not accept the Republican Vice-Presidential candidacy. I only engage in schemes that are surefire successes if it weren’t for the meddling of those damn nosy kids and their dog. Now if you’ll excuse me, there are some young ladies that need to be tied to the railroad tracks.
Doctorb said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:18
Andrew Stuttaford, NRO’s indefatigable critic of the desolate legacy of the Soviet dictator.
Hold on, is that a staff position?
Yeah dogg he’s one of the guys standing athwart history all yelling stop. It’s kinda everyone’s job there but they do it in rotations. Peter Robinson for example is slated to write a scathing critique all up in Oliver Cromwell’s treatment of the Irish and K-Lo is cold composing a fiery tirade against Philip II of Macedon yo.
Christopher said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:27
Conservatism, in the NRO sense, is a self-contradictory collection of opinions whose only common thread is that they all revolve around protecting the powerful from the predations of the weak.
I don’t get how these people can be so detached from art. When they say, “Why aren’t people making conservative movies?” they really mean, “Why aren’t people making movies where powerful men effortlessly crush their weak, sniveling enemies?” and the answer to that question should be self-evident.
Or to put it another way, once you’re decrying the horrible bias Wall E shows by having fat characters, maybe it’s time to ask if your standards are too high.
"Oh Stewardess, I Speak 'Nut" said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:28
“Orwell - who actually fought on the side of the leftist Anarchists against Franco in Spain - is a prophet of conservative political correctness.”
Was it not in Homage to Catalonia where Orwell wrote that the police are the natural enemies of the common people? Also, that fascism sucks. Or is that central to their point?
FuriousGeorge said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:30
Well, what they really mean is, “why aren’t there more movies about, dedicated to, or starring, Jesus?”
Tim (The Other One) said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:34
In honor of those NRO kids I’m just going to watch I Love Lucy and Three Stooges episodes all summer long !
gainsayer said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:40
Andrew Stuttaford, NRO’s indefatigable critic of the desolate legacy of the Soviet dictator.
Do they have more jobs like that? Seems like easy money being an indefatigable critic of dictators who are too dead to respond.
Matt T. said,
July 3, 2008 at 21:40
My Cousin Vinny.
Wherein a smartass yankee lawyer goes to the heart of redstate Alabama to make sure justice is done properly and the “obviously guilty” pair of young men get their day in court, instead of railroaded by “local justice”. Hell, Vinny even takes the extra effort to learn how to do the deal properly, all the rules and regulations. Guy has no idea what he’s talking about again. Man, I’d get fired from myjob (prep cook) if I was the equivalent stupid.
But Marisa Tomei is distractingly hot, so who knows.
FuriousGeorge said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:03
But Marisa Tomei is distractingly hot, so who knows.
Watching “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”:
Pros - Marisa Tomei gets her kit off.
Cons - Philip Seymour Hoffman sexes Marisa Tomei. From behind.
Verdict - Some things you can’t unsee.
Jake H. said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:09
I’m thinking of a remake of “The Big Chill” where they’d all be gathered around Buckley’s corpse
Oooo, ooo - I wanna shoot the intro, with a Marvin Gaye soundtrack playing in the background.
Why not? As a dead person who is generally admired, Marvin Gaye is automatically a conservative. Remember, he sang the national anthem once, which means he would reject the rabid America hatred of Michelle Hussein Obama X Zedong Krishna Travolta gabba gabba hey fist jab reparations drool….
Baron Sinister von TwirlyMustache said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:11
via Indiana University School of Law.
Doctorb said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:12
The problem with “why aren’t there more movies about, dedicated to, or starring, Jesus?” is that you make a movie about some middle easterner getting railroaded by petty political enemies into a tribunal run by an occupying imperial power, and then he gets tortured and killed, and they’ll be all why do liberals hate America and shit.
Jake H. said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:17
Andrew Stuttaford, NRO’s indefatigable critic of the desolate legacy of the Soviet dictator.
Do they have more jobs like that? Seems like easy money being an indefatigable critic of dictators who are too dead to respond.
I think there’s an opening at the Herod the Great desk…
Danny Guam said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:17
Just read this comment over at digby’s:
You can find me hanging around Sadly, No! most days.
Ah, the most retarded insiders-chattering-amongst-themselves site in the blogospshere. That explains your stupidity. Hey, throw up a fake Gary Ruppert post for me, wouldja? I mean, that shit just never gets old! It’s teh awesome!
anon | 07.03.08 - 4:11 pm | #
I would like to get that on a t-shirt.
stryx said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:18
As a dead person who is generally admired…
Which means we could use Judy Garland
Some day I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me
It is a national anthem of sorts, after all.
Flying Fox said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:18
My favorite part:
“What’s your favorite political movie and why?
In the early 1960s, Billy Wilder made perhaps the only Cold War comedy, One, Two, Three. It starred Jimmy Cagney as a Coca Cola executive working in Berlin just before the wall was built. Hilarious, with plenty of digs at the Soviets and excellent use of The Saber Dance by Aram Khachaturian.”
Mona Charen missed Dr. Strangelove apparently. Or assumed that it was a gung ho blast those reds to hell action movie, as Slim Pickens’ iconic scene would suggest.
mikey said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:22
Holy Shit!
I’m an INSIDER????
I have NEVER been an insider before.
This is SO cool…
mikey
Danny Guam said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:25
I thought calling people retards was a nice touch too. And using the name “anon”.
May be it’s ace.
Jay B. said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:27
That makes me want to kill myself. I love One, Two, Three.
But if she wants to think that’s the only Cold War comedy…she’s a jabbering idiot.
The President’s Analyst is a great, great one, for example.
And The Day After had its moments.
Tim (The Other One) said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:31
“That explains your stupidity”
bastards are on to me…………….
Doctorb said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:39
Also The Mouse that Roared
Spies Like Us
The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming
Top Secret!
Hot Shots! and Hot Shots! Part Deux
but aside from that there probably weren’t a lot of other ones, I’m sure.
Christopher said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:43
Speaking of Digby, this comment by Hullabaloo blogger dday (about Obama’s defense of faith-based initiatives) knocked my sox off:
What the fuck is that?!
Did that guy just defend Obama by accusing liberals of Bush Derangement Syndrome?
Seriously, what the hell?
jim said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:55
Gotta go with the “All Of The Above” option yet again on that one. If they were SMART liars, they wouldn’t be getting caught so damn often, would they now?
Now now - I thought his glowing praise of dead Waffen-SS soldiers at Bitburg was sheer boffo - & who can forget “we begin bombing in 5 minutes” … Bush tries, but he can’t possibly hold a candle to Ronnie “I too am a Contra” Reagan for sheer screwball wackiness - ohhh, you mean in MOVIES! Well, yeah, he was pretty much a big overstuffed bucket of pure suck.
Yeah, the world is just crying out right now for another tasteful evocative masterpiece of cinema like “Red Dawn” or “Rambo” … let alone such works of art as “EXPELLED” … but the REAL reason the neocon POV isn’t bigger in Hollywood is that so many of those “creative types” are Teh Ghey, & they’re afraid of being “converted” if they’re in too-close proximity to all those IslamoHomoLiberals & their queer-cooties.
Bravo, Comrade Skelly - with this statement, we know that you have now completely internalized the glorious victory over the degeneracy of individual thought which The Party has bestowed upon us in the form of Doublethink, & can begin the process of becoming a Goodprole! The Minstry Of Truth is proud of you.
FuriousGeorge said,
July 3, 2008 at 22:56
Up is down, black is white, cats sleeping with dogs and all that. But Larry Johnson still looks like a Fisher Price Man, so all is still right with the world.
Kathleen said,
July 3, 2008 at 23:03
Name one book we’re going to be shocked you read.
Dracula. (Mona Charen)
why would anyone be shocked by this? What am I missing?
Kathleen said,
July 3, 2008 at 23:04
unless there are some inside jokes we would like to talk about instead.
CREED SUCKS
Jay B. said,
July 3, 2008 at 23:07
But that suggests no faith-based charity ever got taxpayer funds from the government prior to big bad George Bush.
What the fuck is that?!
Did that guy just defend Obama by accusing liberals of Bush Derangement Syndrome?
Seriously, what the hell?
No. It means that many liberals have their panties in a wad over a program that has roots in the Great Society — government has long given money to “faith-based” charities in an effort to strengthen the social safety net.
First, Obama, in his speech, says he wants it to go back to the footing it had under Clinton while he credits his approach to what Al Gore suggested in 2000 — both of which PRE-DATE the Bush Administration.
Second for all the Hullabaloo over his announcement (which, IMO, is smart, principled AND progressive — if anyone bothered to read it as Obama said it, not as the AP puked it out), Obama in his second best-seller Audacity of Hope wrote about supporting a program nearly exactly like the one he proposed.
What Bush did was to elevate the bullshit of “faith-based” while funneling money toward the right-wing mega-churches bullshit Abstinence programs and crap like that. But things like Catholic Charities and many Jewish charity organizations have gotten federal funds for decades. Look it up.
These are simple facts.
Reacting hysterically and wailing about being thrown “under the bus” is to wildly overreact and purposefully misconstrue what Obama was talking about.
Realist said,
July 3, 2008 at 23:32
Imagine, the head of the Screen Actors Guild making it all the way to the presidency and to this very day failing to attain the industry’s “life-time achievement award.”
Gee, it’s almost like his acting was just as shitty as his Presidenting.
Christopher said,
July 3, 2008 at 23:38
Jay B:
So… to summarize, he IS accusing them of Bush Derangement Syndrome, but it’s okay because they actually are suffering from it.
All right, then.
Julia Grey said,
July 3, 2008 at 23:42
I’m sure NRO et al. would gladly promote whatever shit you film.
Or whatever film you shit.
zeppo said,
July 3, 2008 at 23:43
I made an absolutely hilarious post about Bedtime for Bonzo, before anyone else mentioned it, and Wordpress frikkin’ crashed my browser!
Asshat Wordpress.
It will probably do it again. Watch.
I agree, Creed sux. And the drummer’s bass drum pedal is all rusted out now, too.
W.E.B. Adamant said,
July 3, 2008 at 23:56
Is there one book that you’d recommend to uplift and inspire depressed conservatives this summer?
I should probably say the Bible. In fact . . . maybe I will. (Jay Nordlinger)
Well, be sure to skip the parts that will give you indigestion. Like that whole “New Testament” thing. Although you might like to reread Revelations and give you hope that God will smite the lib’rals. Lawd, don’t they try the patience!
stryx said,
July 4, 2008 at 0:00
Is there one book that you’d recommend to uplift and inspire depressed conservatives this summer?
I should probably say the Bible.
Yes. The Bible. Definitely The Bible.
Doctorb said,
July 4, 2008 at 0:19
Ja ja, my beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.
So… to summarize, he IS accusing them of Bush Derangement Syndrome, but it’s okay because they actually are suffering from it.
Erm, not so much. I think it’s more like “just because Bush got involved in this doesn’t make it the worst thing ever”, and that “faith-based charity” doesn’t actually have to mean “funneling public funds to Crisco-haired con-men”.
Sort of like how nature reserves are still nice even though Hitler liked them.
needed: a collective noun | a crank’s progress said,
July 4, 2008 at 0:28
[...] [From Sadly, No! » Présenté Sans Commentaire] [...]
Matt T. said,
July 4, 2008 at 0:38
Sort of like how nature reserves are still nice even though Hitler liked them.
Tom Tomorrow had a cartoon dealing with this way back in 2001 over the level of mercury allowable in drinkable water. Bush lowered levels and everyone had a kitten, forgetting that Clinton had only raised levels on his way out the door. Or something like that, I don’t fully recall and I don’t friggin’ feel like looking it up. And I’m stoned, so there’s that.
Anyhow, I’m with Jay B., more or less. While I yearn for the day all the silly little fairy tales people tell themselves so they can avoid having to take any sort of responsibility for their actions because there’s really nothing actually behind reality - be it religion or crystals or whateverthefuck - that’s in the far future, and there’s shit to fix right now. Government and religion are both tools, and they don’t neccessarily have to be used to smash folks’ nuts. Tools can build, too.
Personally, I think the wingnuts are missing out on some prime fear & loathing in all of this. Think, what if Obama delivers money to Angry Black Preachers! They’re Angry and Black! They’ll use Our Tax Dollars to Hate Whitey and America!
Maybe I’m missing it.
J— said,
July 4, 2008 at 0:40
Have you all read PrestoPundit? His take on Obama’s service speech in Colorado Springs:
He has a powerful grasp on European and U.S. history.
Via a laudatory cite (though no link) by Jonah Goldberg, who also has a powerful grasp on European and U.S. history.
One brief addition. From “About the Author”:
Yes! I’ve felt such a void since Mona picked up her satchel of Hayek books and stormed off.
atheist said,
July 4, 2008 at 0:58
Yes! I’ve felt such a void since Mona picked up her satchel of Hayek books and stormed off.
I still feel embarrassed for having insulted her.
Kathleen said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:00
So… to summarize, he IS accusing them of Bush Derangement Syndrome, but it’s okay because they actually are suffering from it.
how about he is just explaining why he thinks they are wrong?
is that too difficult for you?
atheist said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:03
THIS IS SERFDOM. National service mandated by the state is what Europe had for centuries. It was called serfdom. For example, in France, citizens were required to perform public service building and repairing roads and other public projects for hundreds and thousands of hours a year.
So, doing work to keep society together is a form of “Serfdom”. Wow, I always thought it was “work”, or even “public service”.
Because in the USA, roads magically repair themselves while you sleep!
GoatBoy said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:18
So what would be the modern equivalent of a Reagan presidency?
Lance Henriksen or Ronny Cox.
Blue Buddha said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:19
THIS IS SERFDOM. National service mandated by the state is what Europe had for centuries. It was called serfdom. For example, in France, citizens were required to perform public service building and repairing roads and other public projects for hundreds and thousands of hours a year.
Ummm… except serfs weren’t paid shit. I’m sure today’s average construction worker gets paid a fairly decent wage.
Mr. Wonderful said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:24
“Wordpress bit the end off my Wang.”
Dragon King, Susan of T–
You’re forcing me to recall the time, years ago, when Charlie Rose was a host on the CBS am show. By way of intro to a piece (about the early word
processor) he read from the Prompter:
“If you work in an office–and especially if you’re a secretary–you know
what a Wang is…”
True story.
MzNicky said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:27
Blue Buddha:
Perhaps it is a stipulatable truism that whenever wingnutters have to reach back and pull anachronistic terms and phrases out of their asses, it means they’re talking out of the source from whence come their words.
MzNicky said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:34
Yeah, that’s right, I said “stipulatable.” That’s the archaic form of “stipulable.”
Snorghagen said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:38
More Reagan movie reviews….
Reagan was in Santa Fe Trail, a fun Errol Flynn swashbuckler set in the pre-Civil War West. It’s historically ludicrous, but Raymond Massey has a great time playing John Brown as a deranged psychopath. Reagan’s role (as a young George Armstrong Custer) is mercifully small.
Overall, Reagan sucked as an actor IMO. King’s Row seems to be regarded as the pinnacle of his acting career, though it didn’t do much for me. I’ve heard good things about The Killers but I’ve never seen it. I believe that Reagan was the first choice for the male lead in Casablanca, but he turned it down and Humphrey Bogart got the part instead. Thank God.
Speaking of movies:
K-Lo’s reading up on the porn industry? Is she planning a career change?
mikey said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:42
“stipulable”
Hmm. Oh yeah. My mom had one of those.
She used it on her legs when she cut herself shaving.
Said it would sting like hell…
mikey
Doctorb said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:42
Ooh yeah so if Kathryn Jean Lopez decides to go into porn could someone let me know because I will need to splork my eyes out with an x-acto knife okay thanks.
dim-witted badger said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:43
fucking orwellicans
Mr. Wonderful said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:46
“Newspeak,” the sterile official language of Oceana, anticipates the politically correct, sanitized idiom of our time, when the Department of Homeland Security has instructed its officials to refer to men like Osama Bin Laden…”
He gets Newspeak completely (and self-servingly) wrong. It has nothing to do with being “politically correct” or “sanitized.” It’s less subtle than that. It refers to an institutionalization of official mendacity–e.g. (sigh–I know we know this) “Clear Skies Initiative,” “No Child Left Behind,” etc. I.e., lies, in the form of official terminology and usage.
In fact, using “Newspeak” to mean something other than what it actually means is, um, an example of…uh…
Doctorb said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:54
Ah, good old Dinesh D’Souza:
Pascal’s Pensees. The best apologetic for Christianity, and not so well known.
It’s pretty obscure, but apparently there’s something about a wager in there.
Name one book we’re going to be shocked you read.
John Milton, Paradise Lost.
Shocking! A guy who won’t shut up about religion read a book based on religion? And which is also classically important to the Western Canon?
He’s like a somewhat bright undergrad who thinks he’s absolutely brilliant.
About which Samuel Johnson wrote, “None ever wished it longer than it is.”
That’s what she said.
MzNicky said,
July 4, 2008 at 1:57
Re: Reagan’s filmography:
Love Is on the Air
Swing Your Lady
Hollywood Hotel
Accidents Will Happen
Boy Meets Girl
Girls on Probation
Naughty but Nice
Juke Girl
Stallion Road
That Hagen Girl
The Girl From Jones Beach
She’s Working Her Way Through College
Cattle Queen of Montana
Tennessee’s Partner
Hellcats of the Navy
Is it just me, or is this highly selective list of Bonzo’s stellar movies suggestive of primo pr0n titles? Knowing really nothing (really) about pr0n, it’s probably just me.
Doctorb said,
July 4, 2008 at 2:04
I’m looking at that awful, Orwellian DHS paper:
They reason (correctly, I’d say) that using terms like “jihadist” and “holy warrior” kind of legitimizes and glamorizes terrorists, suggesting religious legitimacy, and should thus be avoided. One major theme is we do not want all of the Muslims in the entire world to hear us say we are fighting against all of them, because that would be a good way to give our enemies more popular support. There’s actually some worthwhile thought in there, like in the idea that, while it might seem a great idea to use the term takfir to denounce terror groups, it would actually be better to leave that to people with recognized religious authority because some outside guy claiming so-and-so is a heretic isn’t gonna fly.
Of course, a lot of the wingnuts want to be fighting a Glorious War Against All One Billion Muslims (or more accurately they want someone else’s kids to be fighting that war) so you can see why they’d be upset about this kind of terminology.
Doctorb said,
July 4, 2008 at 2:08
Sorry, I meant paper.
mikey said,
July 4, 2008 at 2:10
I can help here:
Love Is on the Air
This is a porn film about stewadesses getting it on with the passengers
Swing Your Lady
This is a porn film about suburban swingers and swappers
Hollywood Hotel
Porn film about struggling actresses trying to get that big break
Accidents Will Happen
This one’s a fetish pic about peeing
Boy Meets Girl
Duh
Girls on Probation
Double Duh
Naughty but Nice
Yep. Twins…
Juke Girl
Small town girl gets a job in the local nightclub, makes good by banging, well pretty much EVERYONE
Stallion Road
Porn film featuring this year’s not yet dead crop of huge penii
That Hagen Girl
Oh the things she’ll do…
The Girl From Jones Beach
Surfing and Porn. This may well be the BEST one
She’s Working Her Way Through College
And you’re going to LOVE her
Cattle Queen of Montana
Beastiality porn. I’m amazed these things actually sell.
Tennessee’s Partner
Tennessee is a sweet young girl new to chicago. She gets help from her “partner”, a gorgeous black hooker called “Cadillac”….
Hellcats of the Navy
The USO never looked quite so good… or so bad!
mikey
Candy said,
July 4, 2008 at 2:32
Was Ronald Reagan in one single movie that was even remotely memorable?
He had a small part, IIRC correctly, in Bette Davis’s Dark Victory. He had a scene where he was quite inebriated, sitting at a bar, and he did a fairly amusing job with it. Other than that, I’ve never seen him in a movie. I wouldn’t watch that Gipper thing unless forced at gunpoint, and even then I might prefer to be shot.
Candy said,
July 4, 2008 at 2:32
dur, can’t type today.
IIRC correctly
Snorghagen said,
July 4, 2008 at 2:45
Reagan as a porn star? I can see it. He’s got the lascivious Peter North smile down.
Tim (The Other One) said,
July 4, 2008 at 3:02
“K-Lo’s reading up on the porn industry? Is she planning a career change?”
Don’t want….
Rugged in Montana said,
July 4, 2008 at 3:31
Hey, don’t forget my favorite Reagan movie “Bedtime for Democracy” (or was it “Holiday in Cambodia”?), where he talks at length about the pelican menace in the USA of America!!
Matt T. said,
July 4, 2008 at 3:34
John Milton, Paradise Lost.
Shocking! A guy who won’t shut up about religion read a book based on religion? And which is also classically important to the Western Canon?
Well, it’s long. And a poem.
mikey said,
July 4, 2008 at 3:50
Spent one of my birthdays in Cambodia.
Never saw a pelican…
mikey
El Cid said,
July 4, 2008 at 3:58
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Dude goes on and one and on moaning about how this great country was falling apart, but for all that, he didn’t stop it from happening. Typical.
OTB said,
July 4, 2008 at 4:01
What has everybody got against Wellingtons?