he forgot hollywood. we’ve really ruined that institution in a big way. i try to do my bit every day.

also, under separate cover, and with apologies to all good people, i nonetheless and somewhere between proud and horrified to report that the cover of the new issue of the new republic is my wife’s photo.

i’m sorry.
http://www.tnr.com/slide/jillgreenberg/

I see that awful picture all the time — there’s a bus stop ad of that near where I work.

And why did they use that photo? That five o’clock shadow, that pale skin, the meaningless smile, that vacant yet malevolent gaze from his eyes….

… never mind. The photographer got his essence perfectly.

DU

the cover of the new issue of the new republic is my wife’s photo.

She’s kind of furry, but heck, I’m a liberal. Do what you like, I say.

Dennis P is always so reassuring to us lefties. We really do control everything, don’t we? And conservatives are powerless to stop us. Thanks, Dennis, for the pick me up!

And now, back to ceaseless quagmire in Iraq, the 47 million uninsured, the rising national debt, the deteriorating environment….

Is he the one with the column called “Anecdotal Evidence,” where all his points are proven because all his friends agree with him?

“The whole steel industry has gone gay! You know what else has gone gay? Broadway.”

Moe the Bartender, “The Simpsons”

This is not a nice thing to say, but Green’s wife’s photo looks an awful lot like Joe Leiberman. It’s got that sort of smug pinch of disapproval at the corner of the mouth. Like he’s trying to smile but he feels just so much contempt for us that he just can’t carry it off. Which is perhaps why it’s in TNR.

The other photos are cute as, well, monkeys.

the cover photo for TNR is titled “welcome to your fascist future” so yes, joe lieberman is an appropriate synecdoche. possibly.

and bubba, low hanging fruit and all that. but i will get you back one day.

But Teh Left has fallen silent.

We’ll all have to fill in to make up.

Robert, you kinda left that one hanging over the plate, didn’t you? Well, better Bubba than me, I say.

Er, hold on Robert, while I look up “synecdoche”.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure Merriam-Webster had it defined properly.

Carry on.

“Liberals have infiltrated our most cherished democratic institutions in a misguided attempt to change society for the better. Conservatives stand opposed to their efforts.”

Well, you must admit, there’s a scintilla of truth in this statement. You guys have screwed things up a little.

You know what else teh Left has ruined? Teh Gahy Secks. Used to be that proud totally heterosexual conservatives could be left in peace to explore our – er their – wide stances in bathrooms with other totally heterosexual men interested, in you know firm backs and arms, as well as tight abs!

Yes, Dennis, you’ve found us out. We took over the press, academia and the courts. It’s true. That’s why the NYTimes pimps for war, Chermerinsky was un-hired and the SCOTUS blew a hole in Brown vs. Board of Education.

C’mon you guys. Don’t make old Dennis the scapegoat here. While Bush may have been screwing up over there in Iraq in the execution of the war, you guys have been busy screwing up back here by forgetting to support the troops even though you don’t support their mission.

Oh, I almost forgot, I’m a recovering troll, and not a troll. Sorry for the relapse episode. Note to self: Get right back on that wagon.

might as well have responded in biblical Hebrew (that’s where I got the idea of a judge’s role anyway)

Dear Dennis Prager,

Please read the Bible again … it’s clear you are missing something.

The Hebrew root (tz-d-q) used to denote the ideal of justice which we must pursue, according to Torah, indicates not only procedural justice but also distributive justice. Indeed, it’s often (mis) translated as “charity”. Yes … in biblical Hebrew, wealth-redistribution (mandated — and not merely left to voluntary charity — as part of the theocratic Levitical system both liberals and conservatives mis-understand as only dealing with teh hawt illicit sex) is considered part and parcel of justice.

Meanwhile, the root used to refer to earthly justice (sh-p-t) does generally refer only to procedural justice. Still, the shoftim (judges of the book with the same name) were very much activist judges as legislative power (beyond the “constitution” of the Torah) was made on a case by case basis in the courts.

So, Mr Prager … read again your Biblical Hebrew: I think the Bible is down with activist judges, eh?

P.S. Mr Prager — don’t you find it odd how in some of your rants you can substitute the word “Jew” where you use the word “liberal” and it seems, well, familiar?

Are you sure you’re a recovering troll, Dr. Sandwich? Start by defining “Support the troops” and maybe we can have a rational discussion. At least til Kevin shows up.

Ah, I see your update, and raise you a… hmm. At any rate, I think you’re confusing supporting the war with supporting the troops. Same as always.

Thus, history can be distorted so as to give as much attention to minorities and women — no matter how much less significant their actual roles in American history — as to white men, who constitute the great majority of the primary figures who shaped American history.

Because only white men ever did anything in America. Those women and minorities were too busy being women and minorities.

“Are you sure you’re a recovering troll, Dr. Sandwich? Start by defining “Support the troops” and maybe we can have a rational discussion. At least til Kevin shows up.”

Show them a little love between the F–U Bush diatribes. That’s all. Write a letter or two. Send a gift package. Show them you care, mission be damned!

“Write a letter or two. Send a gift package.”

Fine suggestions, but my support for the troops takes place mainly as fourth dimensional mental crifanac. I can support the troops without doing anything, much in the same way that, say, Jonah Goldberg supports the war.

Let it be hereby resolved that leftists think puppies are cute.

As long as your message is unequivocal and unconditional, and as long as they get it. You don’t have to be good at baking cookies to show some love.

Support our troops.

What a contemptible falsehood. The right wields it as a club, uses it to implicitly question the patriotism of those who disagree with them. The left kowtows to the construct, insisting that their wish to end an illegal and counterproductive use of military force in no way prevents them from “supporting” the “troops”.

In reality, there is nothing anybody who is not in the military or the service member’s family can do to “support” the troops, or the mission. Short, I suppose, of paying your taxes.

And in case you’ve missed it or, as so often happens on the right, ignored it, the troops don’t give a shit. They have problems of their own. Some of the worst fighting I was involved in came a month after the Kent State massacre. It was all so far away, so divorced from our daily reality, that we didn’t care. We didn’t care that protesters were trying to end the war. We didn’t care that soldiers shot them. Well, except for the ongoing joke about how an entire company of Nat’l Guardsmen shot up their entire basic load and hit 13 people. Pretty sorry, and not gonna cut it if those people are shooting back.

When you’re trapped in an endless war, you have a sense you’re just a placeholder. You fight to survive until your DEROS date and they ship somebody over to take your place in the line.

So, please, c’mon. Recognize that the whole “Support our troops” game is a load of crap we use to try and influence the political discourse here in the US. It has absolutely nothing to do with our troops. If you have any political honesty, you’ll put it in your pocket and argue the merits.

But I bet you don’t….

mikey

Congratulations to your wife, Robert Green.

Confederate Yankee and the Photo Inspection Brigade are going to be all over those images.

Oh, man, BLT, I hope you are a parody, because, seriously. Just Seriously.

The Democrats and Lefties are the only ones to get the the equipment, rest, and aftercare they need. That is supporting the troops.

Now that I type that, who am I kidding? The Dems aren’t doing a damn thing. But those of us in the Far Left (60% of the country) would like to see the troops supported by, you know, supporting them. All the cookie baskets in the world are not going to protect our under-armored soldiers from getting roasted by IEDs. And all the care packages in happyland will not help the Byzantine bureaucracy that they have to face when they come back if they actually need medical/mental attention.

The right’s family values blather isn’t reflected in the latest census results (in Canada): there are more childless couples, more common-law families with and w/o kids, more people living alone, more single parent families (# of single dads increasing), more gay people, more gay married people (gay marriage is legal in Canada), more gay couples with kids.

I meant to say, “What mikey said.”

Opposing imperialistic wars IS supporting the troops…

No no no. Wanting more, longer and better wars is supporting the troops, otherwise you’re just wishing away their job security.

Thus, history can be distorted so as to give as much attention to minorities and women — no matter how much less significant their actual roles in American history — as to white men, who constitute the great majority of the primary figures who shaped American history.

Really? No, he really wrote that? Do I have to go read him?????

What a jerk. So in his view EXPANDING what we know of history is distorting it.

It’s not like he’s being forced into reading books about Betsy Ross, Calamity Jane, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and Sitting Bull – he is perfectly entitled to ignore them and keep waving the flag for the white guys to his heart’s delight. Does he think there’s only a finite amount of space for history to occupy, and he’s worried that the brown-skinned and pink-wearing people are going to crowd out the important stuff?

“white men, who constitute the great majority of the primary figures who shaped American history.”

No shit? Gee, Dennis, you don’t think it could have anything to do with the fact that for most of American history, minorities and women couldn’t own property or vote? Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

I am constantly amazed at the low-wattage fucktards that thrive in Reich-wing radio.

mikey said,

Support our troops.

What a contemptible falsehood. The right wields it as a club, uses it to implicitly question the patriotism of those who disagree with them. The left kowtows to the construct, insisting that their wish to end an illegal and counterproductive use of military force in no way prevents them from “supporting” the “troops”.

But I said, “Just because some element within the right-wing admittedly uses this as a club, and that some on the left capitulate, doesn’t mean that it can’t be said from a heart that is genuine and true, and sincere in the wish that the troops understand how much they are appreciated.

Mickey said:

In reality, there is nothing anybody who is not in the military or the service member’s family can do to “support” the troops, or the mission. Short, I suppose, of paying your taxes.

I said:

Not true. Here’s where creativity comes in. Post blogs expressing unequivocal and unconditional support, write them, email them, come out publically and make statements of support. Every bit counts. But don’t mention the part about breaking international law by even being there. They may take that as a declaration that they’re a bunch of criminals.

Mikey said a bunch of other stuff, and then Mikey said this:

So, please, c’mon. Recognize that the whole “Support our troops” game is a load of crap we use to try and influence the political discourse here in the US. It has absolutely nothing to do with our troops. If you have any political honesty, you’ll put it in your pocket and argue the merits.

But I bet you don’t….

And I said:

Therein lies the weakness of your argument. Just because something has been used as a propaganda tool, doesn’t mean you can’t take the same tool, or, the same sentiment minus the disengenuous element, and apply it for the good. If you simply abandon the notion of supporting the troops because a few right-wing nuts are abusing it, you’re letting the propagandists win, and the troops will suffer, in the meantime.

Otherwise, you make some good points, mikey.

Hey g.

Whaddaya say we go over and remind him that, considering where nazareth is and who lived there at the time, his buddy jesus was a brown – skinned fellah, and would be considered a minority here…

mikey

no matter how much less significant their actual roles in American history

you’re insignificant because we say you are.

Dr BLT, Recovering Troll said,
But don’t mention the part about breaking international law by even being there. They may take that as a declaration that they’re a bunch of criminals.

BLT- If our troops are such crybabies that they can’t stand and face such questions (assuming they even bloody care- mikey’s dead right on that) then they shouldn’t be fighting a war, for whatever reason. Perhaps you have the necessary strength to face the questioning of our mission? You certainly put up a spirited *ahem* defense here. So you must be soldier material.

Go put your ass on the line for the principles you mouth, sonny-boy. When it was my turn, I did it. Now how about you?

BLT. Whether by accident or otherwise, you missed the point.

Your “support” is like masturbation. The troops don’t feel it, and they don’t care. It’s either to assuage your guilt, make you feel as if you’re contributing to the death and destruction when you’re not, or it’s a political hammer.

It’s utterly mythical. There is no spoon. There is no support. They don’t need your fucking pity and harangues and encouragement and cookies, fer crissakes. They need good leadership, plenty of water and a bit of luck.

You want to “support” a troop? Really? There’s a whole lot of torn up, confused, scared young guys right here in your neighborhood. Volunteer at the VA. If you’re really a doctor, contribute some time. And if you can get some headshrinkers to contribute some free hours, you might just save a couple of lives. But the rest of it is faux-warrior posturing, and even if most civilians can’t see that, you may rest assured your beloved “troops” do…

mikey

Clearly, when Dennis’s ancestors stepped off the Mayflower onto the shores of this continent, there were no other people of significance here.

What’s that you say?

Dennis Prager wikipedia entry

Prager is a native of Brooklyn, New York. His parents were also born and raised in Brooklyn. His father, Max Prager, married Hilda Friedfeld on September 14, 1940. They had two sons: Kenneth, born January 3, 1943, and Dennis, born August 2, 1948.

His Jewish grandparents’ journey from Germany to the Lower East Side, and their tribulations and struggles there, are lost in the mists of time, due to the fact that ithey just weren’t significant enough to document…..

Show them a little love between the F–U Bush diatribes. That’s all. Write a letter or two. Send a gift package. Show them you care, mission be damned!

BLT- I have donated money for armor, I have sent DVD packages to ships and bases, helped make care packages, sent out Camelbacks for the guys on the ground. I’ve also done alot of canvasing for people who promised to end teh war.

so fine:

Fuck Bush.

Yay teh troops.

Fuck Bush.

Mission Accomplished, BLT?

Why do people like BLT assume that just because a person is posting here, that they haven’t also done something else worthwhile? Is it projection?

g-

Bingo.

Whether one is on the left or right, it cannot be denied that the left has had an enormous impact on the major institutions of American society — specifically journalism, education and the judiciary.

I would also mention the institution of letting people die in the street.

I think the best thing we can do to support the troops is to do everything we can to get their behinds out of Iraq and back home where they belong.

On the other hand, you have the right wingers extending their tours of duty, telling them they can come home when they’ve won, and claiming their sacrifice is a small price to pay.

In conclusion, Dr. Sandwich, could you explain to us why the right wing hates our troops?

Don’t forget the major institution of pr0n!
The Right can’t put its sexual practices on film, because, you know, 5 year olds are notoriously hard to work with on-set.

Well, as the Good Book says, don’t give to a good cause unless you are going to blow a lot of trumpets about it, or something to that effect.

Only the godless would ask you to help rebuild houses or give to the poor or stop innocents from being slaughtered in a heathen country.

A Good Christian is a man like Confederate Yankee, who brags loudly and often about the good things that he’s pretty sure his church did for New Orleans, and the great things that our godly president is trying to do for Iraq, and doesn’t have the audacity to try to disrupt the Lord’s will by actually giving anything (besides his invaluable moral support) himself..

Why would you do something good and not tell everyone? Do you think that God is impressed by that? Do yo think that you are actually going to make a difference in the world that HE already damned to eternal hellfire? Hey, why not go give ALL your money to the poor, then maybe you could be REALLY close to Jesus.

Moving on, from the bulletin, would anyone care to put a bid on a front-row pew?

But for most news people on the left, reporting the news is insignificant compared to changing society for the better, which is the whole point of being a leftist.

So, if ‘changing society for the better’ is the whole point of being a leftist, does that mean the whole point of being a rightist is not changing society for the better? Changing it for the worse, perhaps?

Man, I’ve just waded through a whole stack of comments there, and I feel dirty. There’s such a lot of “leftists all want us to wear Mao suits”-type rants, as though everyone with an opinion left of Friedman (Milton, that is) is a Stalinist. Some don’t seem to have any conception of the variety of thought along the left side of the spectrum. Some think that anecdotal evidence is proof of their all-encompassing theories. And most simply let loose with a bizarre rant about how all lefties are dirty smelly hippies who want to suck from the public teat and abort everyones’ babies.

I can’t comment on all righties, but the ones commenting at TownHall are certainly pretty damn ignorant and deluded. Wow, that’s scary.

“Go put your ass on the line for the principles you mouth, sonny-boy. When it was my turn, I did it. Now how about you?”

I’m a Mennonite. In case you haven’t read your Mennonite history, we’re pacifists and conscientious objectors. In other words, it’s against our religion. Otherwise, I would be in the front of the line. Of course I’m a bit of a backslider as a Mennonite, just as I seem to have temporarily slipped off the wagon as a recovering troll. So I’m going to make my way back to recovery now. Take it away, Gary!

Oh… do you know why it is against your religion, exactly? Is it because war is wrong in some way, or is it that God loves war, he just decided to exempt some people from doing all of the work?

Reminds me of that Seinfeld where Elaine is dating the religious guy who tries to get her to steal for him since she is going to hell anyway.

Hey, murder is against my religion, but that doesn’t mean I can’t cheer other murderers on. Go on! Slit her f*ckin throat! Don’t wuss out now! I support you buddy, c’mon make it a triple homicide! Jesus, I wish I could be out there with them..

Hey, murder is against my religion, but that doesn’t mean I can’t cheer other murderers on.

Sort of like hiring the Shabbas goy.

Mennonite, huh? Of course, pacifists/conscientious objectors can still serve in the military in non-fighting roles, such as medical ones, for example. I believe you have some training in such a field? Maybe you can also explain how you can believe “that war is altogether contrary to the teaching and spirit of Christ and the Gospel; that therefore war is sin” and still claim that you “support the troops.” Do you support sin?

I am always just bowls me over when asshats like Prager whine about how everyone who is more educated than him (in a field actually pertaining to the matter at hand when it comes to public policy) seems to think that he is a raving lunatic.

But he couldn’t possibly actuall BE a raving lunatic! It muct be all that lefty bias!

Must take some serious brass balls, that.

I supported the troops by being one.You wanna support a troop?Come pay my fucking rent.Now fuck off and save the platitudes,they are less than meaningless.This is just militarism,nothing more,nothing less.

knock knock

who’s there?

the yankees.

the yankees who?

the yankees who are going to do the Red Sox in is fucking who.

“Mennonite, huh? Of course, pacifists/conscientious objectors can still serve in the military in non-fighting roles, such as medical ones, for example. I believe you have some training in such a field? Maybe you can also explain how you can believe “that war is altogether contrary to the teaching and spirit of Christ and the Gospel; that therefore war is sin” and still claim that you “support the troops.” Do you support sin?”

I support dancing, and, growing up Mennonite, that was considered a sin worse than war. Like the issue of dancing I had to re-consider much of what I had been taught. Actually it wasn’t much fun being a Mennonite. All you did all day was get together with relatives and play…

The Mennonite Game
Dr BLT
http://www.drblt.net/music/mennon.mp3

That Prager Billboard is on Hollywood Blvd. (The building in the background is Frederick’s of Hollywood.) He’s doing his best to take it back. Not that the Hollywood of reality has much to do w/ “Hollywood,” the film industry.

As far as the military goes, they all voluntereed. They’re on their own as far as I’m concerned. Draftees, I might be a little more concerned. As mikey says, there’s really nothing we can do. (Besides impeaching Bush & Cheney, & who knows what Pelosi would do then, anyway?)

BLT, you prick. Do you really think, sitting there on the beach in 1968, I wanted to go kill people ’cause they were commies?

You sanctimonious bastard. I carried my water, I humped my ruck, I killed, I lost. You’ve got some kind of story you hide behind. Well, you are cordially invited to shut the fuck up, boy. You don’t know. You have no right to an opinion. You are a coward, and worse than that, you want other people to kill, and die, for your sexual deviance. Fuck you, big boy. You got a problem with my attitude, lock and load, son, ’cause you’ve got no standing in this argument, “mennonite” coward…

mikey

If you’re a fan of the Pragerino then you’ve got see how he keeps it real.

Yes, those damned liberal bastards have succeeded in getting Republican presidents elected in 1980, 1984, 1988, 2000, and 2004. That’s 5 Republicans over 7 presidential elections.

Moreover, the House of Reps shifted over to the Repubs in 1994 and remained that way until 2006.

The Supreme court has also become more “conservative” since 1980.

All of this because of liberal control of education and journalism. Baaah.

Spiro Agnew keeps it mad rizzeal yo!111!1!

the major institutions of American society — specifically journalism, education and the judiciary.

That wasn’t written by a journalist, by any chance?

That wasn’t written by a journalist, by any chance?

The Judiciary is oddly silent in the face of these questions…

M

Mikey, I’m sorry to have upset you. I was tempted to respond in kind, with name-calling, ad hominem attacks, and all of that playground macho bully talk, but you’ve probably been through a lot of stress, so I’ll just shrug it off like any good pacifist Mennonite would do.

Oh, BTW, mikey, Lock and Load? You know, I kind of like that. Would you mind if I used that as a song title?

If you at a loose end for song titles, allow me to recommend “There won’t be any christmas this season (since Santa met that IED)”.

“white men, who constitute the great majority of the primary figures who shaped American history.”

Y’know, I can’t do that fancy strikethrough thingieto fix teh intertubes, but shouldn’t that read “…figures who WROTE American history.”?

Damned women and minorities, always trying to keep the white man down!

http://www.uso.org/

That wasn’t written by a journalist, by any chance?

Hey it’s hard for me to turn on the teevee or pick up a newspaper without hearing about how liberal the media is, so it must be true. Why would the media lie? I mean, except to betray America and aid the terrorists.

Never at a loss, Herr Doktor, but always open to new ideas, so thanks for the suggestion. I intend to give it serious consideration.