Damn, that’s beautiful, Retardo.

It’s also a whole bunch of links I certainly can’t clicky at work (they might look askance at my perusing National Vanguard literature, you know), so I have to ask: do any of the links reference the fact that the slogan “Brazil: love it or leave it” was the official motto of the authoritarian, fascist-leaning military dictatorship that ran the country for twenty years?

I stole “dirigible of drivel” from Alexander Cockburn.

Also, from JQA contra Instayokel, here’s another quote:

“We have done more harm to the Indians since our Revolution than had been done to them by the French and English nations before… These are crying sins for which we are answerable before a higher jurisdiction”.

Fuck a bunch of that loathsome human being Glenn Reynolds.

God Bless You, Mr Retardo

God, we need a Mencken now.

How did he get that she was questioning her patriotism out of her statement that she no longer has the naive, unquestioning faith in the perfect goodness of her country that her very young son has? I no longer believe my mother can make everything all better with a kiss, does that make me anti-family?

When it comes down to it, the left is the force behind such things as removing flags from schools and prayer from schools, working to undermind the spiritual and patriotic foundations of this nation.

Yes, it does, tigrismus; you’re denigrating the value of the traditional two-parent heterosexual family and opening the door to sodomite families global! What’s a child without a mother to do? Do you really think that a homo dad can make it all better the way a mom can? Why don’t you go roll some rainbow-dyed Easter eggs?

Gary coins a new word, “undermind”.

When it comes down to it, the left is the force behind such things as removing flags from schools and prayer from schools, working to undermind the spiritual and patriotic foundations of this nation.

Oooh, Gary, when you have a new move, you ought to practice it a few times before you take it out on the ice. For now, you should probably stick to “The fact is,” instead of trying to get all fancy with “When it comes down to it.” I mean, that fall looked painful from here.

I don’t think I’ve heard about anyone trying to remove flags from schools, though I suppose it’s possible. Prayer (other than the “Oh God, please don’t let me fail this test” private variety) ought to be removed from public schools — that whole No Establishment of Religions business in the First Amendment — so God bless “the left” for taking the laboring oar on this one.

But I do like your coining of the word “undermind” as a verb. And I think you give us a terrific example almost daily of someone who has been underminded.

When it comes down to it, the left is the force behind such things as removing flags from schools and prayer from schools, working to undermind the spiritual and patriotic foundations of this nation.

Absolutely. Right on brother. You give ‘em hell. Damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead! United we stand.

We’re one nation under God. America was founded on Judeo-Christian values. The Founding Fathers expected Americans to defend their second Amendment Right to bear arms – particularly against those who would destroy the best country on Earth. Nuke Iran; nuke ‘em all.

Removing prayer from our schools is anti-American and anti-Family. So is gay marriage. Kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out. Kids are being poisoned by the mainstream media (“MSM�) to hate the United States and everything for which it stands. Those who don’t use the Freedom of Speech responsibly don’t deserve to have that luxury.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. God Bless America.

Glad you’re on our side, Gary. Happy to have ya.

Gary, I hate to say it, but when you are right, you are right. I remember the meeting between me, some illegal immigrants, a few other foreign agents, some well intentioned liberals and of course those pesky activist judges in which we agreed to get the flag out of every school in the country and incarcerate any one who used the phrases “Oh Jesus” and “Oh God” any other way other than blaspheme. We also decided to turn your children GAY. The meeting was called “Destorying America: One Brick at a time.”

Dan, if we were to want the flags out of schools, it’s only because we can think of a better place for folks on the right to put them.

And Lucy, you’ve totally convinced me. I totally repent of my family-hatin’ ways, and I promise to eat an entire hotdog & apple pie to atone.

The idea that prayer has been taken out of schools is so adorably naive, it’s charming. It makes me feel all melty inside, like when little kids mail letters to Santa.

So, has anyone ever wondered why no one on the “nuke ’em! nuke ’em! nuke ’em!” bandwagon seems to want to get our troops out of the way of the fallout first?

Just asking.

You know, Gary might be right… windbags who don’t show proper respect to Old Glory should feel the squeeze.

First link in that last batch, to cla.calpoly.edu bonus_army.JPG, is broken, comes up as just “http:///” (note three slashes).

o, has anyone ever wondered why no one on the “nuke ’em! nuke ’em! nuke ’em!” bandwagon seems to want to get our troops out of the way of the fallout first?

If the troops choose to stand in the way of the Freedom Bomb, so be it.

However, if a particle of fallout reaches Israel, our vengeance will be vast.

-L.G. McFootballs

First link in that last batch, to cla.calpoly.edu bonus_army.JPG, is broken, comes up as just “http:///” (note three slashes).

Got it. Thanks!!

I see that we tend to agree on this point.

But beyond the shameless plug, I do have a question. How can the wingnuts keep saying that those of us who disagree with them want to destroy our country. There’s only two possibilities.

One, that they’re wrong, and we love our country and would like to see it moving in a more positive direction.

Or two, we hate our country and want to destroy it, but let’s face it, we haven’t been very successful, as it’s still here, veering badly of course towards a totalitarian police state that gary would very much approve of, so hey! Why are they so worried about us?

mikey

While Retardo is absolutely right about the left in general, I’m happy to admit I’m not patriotic in any sense that Gary or Glenn would recognise. I like the good things about America, and there are a lot of them, and I like the good things about other countries. I also dislike the bad things about America and the bad things about other countries. What matters to me is not whether one country, in which I happen to have been born, is better than all the rest. It’s that the people I care about (primarily my family and friends, secondarily the whole world) experience as much of the good in life as possible and as little of the bad.

Hey Gavin, excuse me, Retardo, got any hot pics?

You should post some. You know, show the ladies that french “Retardeu” babe magnet body that I’m sure you have to go along with your “fuck you” attitude.

I just want to look at them, I promise I won’t fuck around with them in photoshop or anything.

tigrismus:
You know, Gary might be right… windbags who don’t show proper respect to Old Glory should feel the squeeze.

tigrismus, you mean someone who would do something like this?

http://soundingcircle.com/newslog2.php/__show_article/_a000195-000407.htm

The wingnuts’ patriotism doesn’t quite reach to the point of actually signing up to go to Iraq.

Or, in Flush’s case, Vietnam.

I don’t know how old Insta-dumbshit is, but I’ll bet he, too, didn’t serve in the War du Jour when he was military service age.

And I’ll bet when Gary Ruppert turns eighteen, hell, no, he won’t go either.

But, yeah, waving flags and calling people traitors, they’re all for that.

Why, yes, as a matter of fact.

Here’s one.

Heh, indeed.

Some of those comments are hilarious, though: 21 Jan 2005 @ 21:13 by Aubrey @209.112.197.100 : misinterpreting US Code
Don’t be fooled. Read the entire title and chapter sited (i.e. google USC). No laws were broken, however, President Bush may need to revise his stance on flag defecation.[my emphasis]

Ostentatious displays of wealth, religion, and patriotism all make me sick (Mencken, too). All three reflect the same mentality. The owner of that McMansion, who drives a Godzillamobile, wears a gold Rolex, and prays loudly and publicly. Disgusting.

Please excuse the extended quote; this is from “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.”

“If you listen to a lot of conservatives, they’ll tell you that the difference between them and us is that conservatives love America and liberals hate America.

[snip]

They don’t get it. We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a four-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow.”

Says it all, I think.

Hey Gavin, excuse me, Retardo, got any hot pics?

sure.

Limbaugh, the “Dirigible of Drivel”

reminds me of my favorite joke:

What’s the difference between Rush Limbaugh and the Hindenberg?

One is a flaming Nazi gasbag, the other is a dirigible.

I too, like the coinage of ‘undermind’ but think it should have a different meaning. As in, “Gary’s argument proves once and for all that his is an undermind.”

When I was in high school I stopped saying the pledge of allegiance because I thought a) it was kind of creepy that we non-voting teenagers were required to pledge allegiance daily (no really, think about what that means) and b) I think certain forms of patriotism are dangerous brushes with idolatry. Feeling you have to pledge to, defend, love, worship etc. the flag (or the president) doesn’t really mesh for me. After the school talked to my parents, I found out my dad stopped saying the pledge in 4th grade, so really I was just behind the curve. And yet we are all law-abiding, voting, tax-paying, mostly happy American citizens in my family. What’s so great about loving America anyway? Its not a person. I think ‘love’ is a misplaced emotion when it comes to countries.

Interestingly enough, the pledge was written by a Massachusetts socialist. I think about that when the righties get up in arms about it, and then I titter like a schoolgirl.

Thanks Gavin. I didn’t photoshop it on my blog.

“I too, like the coinage of ‘undermind’ but think it should have a different meaning. As in, “Gary’s argument proves once and for all that his is an undermind.””

Cool. Sounds like something out of Gattaca.

I feel I must add to this my two favorite pictures on the whole intarwebs to put together:

here and here,

But that’s because I’m a terrorist, and I hate America.

“When it comes down to it, the left is the force behind such things as removing flags from schools and prayer from schools, working to undermind the spiritual and patriotic foundations of this nation.”

Is Gary real, or is he just fictional character?

Oh, I and I Lu-u-u-u-r-v-v-v-e-s me some “undermind”!

We stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance in grade school (as a school system). That must mean that all my school mates and I now hate America. If only I’d been allowed to pray more….

And can we expound on undermind? I’d like to suggest “nethermind.”

Thanks Gavin. I didn’t photoshop it on my blog.

It looks like you’re using the lasso to remove figures from the background. For simple, high-contrast figures like that, the easiest method is the extract tool (ctrl-alt-x).

What a great post, Retardo.

Who we really need is Bill Hicks:

“I was over in Australia, and everyone’s like: ‘Are you proud to be an American?’ And I was like, ‘Um, I don’t know, I didn’t have a lot to do with it. You know, my parents fucked there, that’s about all.”

I thought about the Franken comment too. If I could rant a little (since I’m among fellow travelers):

I don’t think we as liberals should give up the concepts of patriotism, faith, family, etc. to the wingnuts. Now, we can call ostentatious displays out as such, and Lord knows I hate bunting (y’know, those semicircle-shaped red, white, and blue banners) as much as anyone, but I don’t think we should be on the opposite side of any of those items. It’s not a good way to win friends (or elections) and influence people, for one, but more importantly, it’s not true. We DO love our country, families, etc. (as has been demonstrated here). Just a pet peeve.

[/rant]

“Who we really need is Bill Hicks:”

AMEN, Sturdy! Listen to Hicks sometime, and even though he died over a decade ago, his stuff is still topical. The good ones always leave us too soon…

Excellent post. And I say that as a died-in-the-wool America hater.

Thank for the toilet paper
But your flag’s meaningless to me
Look around, we’re all people
Who needs country’s anyways?

Dead Kennedys, Stars and Stripes of Corruption

A student can pray in school, within reason, any time he or she wants. What can’t happen is a teacher leading that prayer. But Gary and his ilk want to be able to force everybody to practice their religion, which is blatantly unconstitutional and blatantly unAmerican. They have no claim to patriotism when they espouse such bullroar. WHY DOES GARY HATE AMERICA?
No, the left doesn’t hate America. We hate what people like Gary do in the name of our great land.

As the odd man out canadian, I never went with that mindless patriotism shit either. It’s the same thing here sometimes, just less genocidal and more annoyingly smug.

Also, whoever mentioned undermind as a noun, as in Gary is a total undermind beat me to that one. Curses!

That was a mighty fine post, Retardo! It explains why this vet will never forgive Bush for how he’s disgraced the flag I served.

That was a mighty fine post, Retardo! It explains why this vet will never forgive Bush for how he’s disgraced the flag I served.

Where’s teh Bellamy Salute?

“At first our citizens spoke out against this [war], by an impulse natural to their training. Today they have turned, and their voice is the other way. What caused the change? Merely a politician’s trick — a high-sounding phrase, a blood-stirring phrase which turned their uncritical heads: Our Country, right or wrong! An empty phrase, a silly phrase. It was shouted by every newspaper, it was thundered from the pulpit, the Superintendent of Public Instruction placarded it in every schoolhouse in the land, the War Department inscribed it upon the flag. And every man who failed to shout it or who was silent, was proclaimed a traitor — none but those others were patriots. To be a patriot, one had to say, and keep on saying, “Our Country, right or wrong,” and urge on the little war. Have you not perceived that that phrase is an insult to the nation?”

If Mark Twain is wrong, I don’t wanna be right…

I have two observations
I recall that “Undemind” was a 2003 movie of men in search of themselves. I find this fitting for our conversation because we are a nation in search of ourselves.
As long as we keep looking, the state of the union WILL be rock-bottomed and copper-sheathed, one and indivisible …
Whenever we smugly conclude that we have all the answers, that the people on the “other side” of any issues are either villians or fools, we set ourselves firmly on the road to perdition.
We come by this honestly, people have been dividing themselves in to Them and Us for at least as long as there have been people. While this is traditional, it is an illusion — there is only us.

As for this “Right or Wrong” matter…
I’ve always liked the amended verson of the Decatur Toast:

My Country, Right or Wrong.
When Right, to be Kept Right.
When Wrong, to be Put Right.

Were I not a tad dyslexic, “Undmind” would have come out “UNDERMIND” on the first go-round.