sad news

Farewell, Sir Peter!

interesting polticial report

This is a piece by People for the American Way, reviewing the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

I skimmed parts of this, but bits that struck my eye were repreated citations of conservatives' desire to defund social security

Rep. Tom Feeney (R- FL) went directly to the heart of the matter -- the Right's efforts to defund government -- in his remarks about the growing “nanny state.” He included the following government programs in his list of troublesome cradle-to-grave programs-- early childhood education, K-12 public school, community college, higher education and social security.

and this charming aside

Columnist Suzanne Fields complained that teenagers are being lost in the culture war, that being openly homosexual in high school “no longer has shame, [teenagers] seem to have a pride in their worst perversities.” She said conservatives can win the culture war (and the election) because they bring in “moral judgement” where there is none, and that people respond well to being told what to believe and do.

The cognitive dissonance of conservatives wanting to basically abolish government

Norquist believes that people who own guns, home-school or send their kids to private school-- the “leave us alone coalition”-- will have all have less need for government and will want to eliminate entitlement programs such as social security.

but maintain just enough to prevent people from making their own choices when those choices contradict the conservative agenda.

Part of me wants to at least be able to respect my opponent adn agree to disagree, but I see conservatives of this stripe as being unwilling to extend that same degree of respect, so I don't feel too bad, in the end, about not being able to find it myself.

excellent humourous post

Some people seem to take it a little too seriously, but I just laughed and laughed.