What Is Wrong With This Comparison?

Anonymous Phone Call Syndrome

There's a Spiteful Silly Little Child in most of us just dying to get out and do it's darndest. Caller ID has made prank calls all-but impossible now, so these types –– many of whom might be bank presidents, college professors. medical doctors, or high-paid business executives in "real" life –– have found the net –– and various blogs and websites an easy outlet for the little demon within.

None of these people would ever DREAM of acting this way in any face-to-face business, social or professional context.

Most of us like to think we are above such behavior, but few really are when given the chance to "act out" with impunity.

Frankly, I don't think it's anything to get too excited about.

Here's my favorite proverb:

YOU FIND OUT MORE ABOUT PETER FROM WHAT HE SAYS ABOUT PAUL, THAN YOU DO ABOUT PAUL.

An' ain' DAT de troof? ;-)

Keeping your sense of humor in good shape is a great help, if you hope to stay sane, believe me.

I rarely use Comment Moderation, but I do feel free to delete "garbage” whenever I find it.

 I’m glad Ms Shaw, whom I regard as a friend, despite our opposing political views, understood what I was driving at with the recent experiment I called HATE WEEK. 

I just wonder how many looked in that mirror I set up, and recognized THEMSELVES?

Another favorite proverb -- this from Horace Walpole:

LIFE IS A TRAGEDY TO HIM WHO FEELS AND A COMEDY TO HIM WHO THINKS.

NOW WHAT IN THE WORLD 

COULD BE GOING ON HERE?

Gawd, Chris, I'm impressed! That's the only part of you
that does NOT need to lose weight. ~ Dick Wilde

Use your imagination, and offer us your version 

of a suitable caption for this candid shot.

Try to be subtle, and not too mean.

Prizes will be awarded at the end of the day.

Remember: Only Fools AIM for the Booby Prize.

THE FIRST PRIZE GOES TO DICK WILDE!

Hear the astonishing 
CONDOLEEZA RICE 
perform the First Movement of 
DVORAK's PIANO QUINTET in A -Major



Here is a TRUE American Success Story  of the first magnitude made manifest. HALLELUJAH!
I KNOW this music, and you can take it from me this remarkable woman plays astonishingly well.  Frankly, I had no idea. I am humbled –– as all of us should be.
It's too bad the string players are not quite up to her level, but they'll do nicely, even so.

THE STARS and STRIPES FOREVER

Arkady Volodos, one of the greatest living piano virtuosi in a field overcrowded with brilliant performers beefs up Vladimir Horowitz's already-high-powered transcription of John Philip Sousa's most beloved All-American march. 

MEMORIAL DAY 2013

In loving memory and deepest gratitude 

for all who fought, suffered injuries, and died 

that we might live in freedom today.

Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,

Gone far away into the silent land;

When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more, day by day,

You tell me of our future that you plann'd:

Only remember me; you understand

It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than that you should remember and be sad.

~ Christina Rossetti (1836-1894)

We still called this occasion "Decoration Day" when I was in elementary school. It originated after the Civil War to honor those dead.

Veterans Day was called Armistice Day back then too.

Have we ever given official thanks to those who fought, suffered, bled, died and went broke during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812?

After the decisive victory won by The Allies in World War Two it seems downright criminal to me that even ONE American has had to die in the many staged Exercises in Futility we've been led to indulge in since for the benefit of Munitions Manufacturers and the International Bankers who play all sides against the middle to our great detriment.

We should all be armed to the teeth to repel foreign invaders and shoot to death anyone who dares intrude upon the sanctity of our homes.

Aggressors of any kind deserve nothing less than DEATH.

However, when we are duped into becoming aggressors, ourselves, in the name of some phony, trumped-up "cause" or manufactured international "crisis," our soldiers then become nothing more than pawns –– victims of the greed and corrupt ambition of the few who own and operate our leaders and dictate our policies for nefarious purposes of the their own behind the scenes.

Even so, a father, son, husband, brother, lover or friend killed in these Wars of Waste and Warped Ambition is no less deserving of our love, respect and reverence than those who died for genuine, noble causes.

Their sacrifice may have been in vain, but as Kipling said in The Charge of the Light Brigade:

"Theirs not to reason why;
Theirs but to do and die."

For that alone they deserve our love, respect and unending support. Courage and sacrifice are still what they are even when tragically –– or diabolically -- misdirected.

May God grant our people –– and ALL people –– access to Truth, and give them the wisdom to seek Truth, then act in accordance with it when at last Truth becomes known.

AMEN!

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)

Celebrated author. Brilliant wit. Tender heart. 
Desperately unhappy liberal, but I love her.

Coda

There’s little in taking or giving,

There’s little in water or wine;

This living, this living, this living

Was never a project of mine.

Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is

The gain of the one at the top,

For art is a form of catharsis,

And love is a permanent flop,

And work is the province of cattle,

And rest’s for a clam in a shell,

So I’m thinking of throwing the battle—

Would you kindly direct me to hell?

~ Dorothy Parker 

Resumé

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live. 

~ Dorothy Parker 

Live and laugh and love and lie.

Dance the reeling midnight through,

For tomorrow we may die,

But, Alas! we never do!

~ Dorothy Parker

IRREFUTABLE!

The True Face of Islam

 He's holding a knife and machete, and that's an English soldier's BLOOD
he got all over his hands from hacking the soldier to pieces
 and cutting his head off on a London street in broad daylight.

Detain

Intern

Disempower

And

Deport

Islamaniacs

Now!!!

Mild-mannered Major Hasan practicing Takeeya

Treachery is the 

True Face 

of Islam

Mass Murderer Hasan unmasked as an Islamaniac

DIDADIN

Thomas Jefferson designed this building for the University of Virginia
which he founded in his 81st year.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

PART ONE

Thomas Jefferson was an extraordinary man who began learning very early in life and never stopped.

At 5, began studying under his cousin's tutor.

At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French. 

At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages. 

At 16, entered the College of William and Mary. 

At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe. 

At 23, started his own law practice. 

At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. 

At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America ? And retired from his law practice. 

At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress. 

At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence . 

At 33, took three years to revise Virginia 's legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom. 

At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry. 

At 40, served in Congress for two years. 

At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams. 

At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington. 

At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society. 

At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party. 

At 57, was elected the third president of the United States . 

At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation's size. 

At 61, was elected to a second term as President. 

At 65, retired to Monticello . 

At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine. 

At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president. 

At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams. 

Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future: 

John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." 

PART TWO

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe ."

~ Thomas Jefferson

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." 

~ Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." 

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is is natural manure."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." 

~ Thomas Jefferson 

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802: 

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations sure to grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." 

I wish everyone in our country could see this and appreciate its wisdom. If it were taught in our schools, it would be a big help, but it no longer is, so we must do what we can, ourselves, while we are still American Citizens and no yet subjects to a dictatorship that installed itself by stealth right under our noses.

University of Virginia campus designed by Mr. Jefferson

Taxes on some wealthy French 

top 100 percent of income 

Socialist Francois Hollande

PARIS | Sat May 18, 2013

[Reuters] The newspaper said that the exceptionally high level of taxation was due to a one-off levy last year on 2011 incomes for households with assets of more than 1.3 million euros ($1.67 million).

President Francois Hollande's Socialist government imposed the tax surcharge last year, shortly after taking office, to offset the impact of a rebate scheme created by its conservative predecessor to cap an individual's overall taxation at 50 percent of income.

The government has been forced to redraft a proposed bill to levy a temporary 75 percent tax on earnings over 1 million euros, which had been one of Hollande's campaign pledges.

The Constitutional Council has judged such a high rate of taxation to be unfair, leaving the government to rehash it to hit companies rather than individuals.

Since then, a top administrative court has determined that a marginal tax rate higher than 66.66 percent on a single household risked being considered as confiscatory by the council.

Les Echos reported that nearly 12,000 households paid taxes last year worth more than 75 percent of their 2011 revenues due to the exceptional levy. ($1 = 0.7798 euros)

[Reporting by Leigh Thomas, Editing by Mark Trevelyan]

Morris Seligman Dees v. a large, spontaneous grass roots movement

What do you really know about 

Morris Seligman Dees 

and the 

Southern Poverty Law Center?

What do you really know about the Tea Party?

Is there any proper basis for comparison, or is this just one of those nonsensical pieces of internet propaganda disguised 

as a logical, "factual" presentation?

To This We Came
Now, where could we go?

Antidotes to Ignorance Features

In the Reign 

of the 

Gay Magical Elves

[NOTE: The rush to embrace and console every gay man who comes out is infantilizing and condescending—but it's a script written and promoted by GLAAD and reinforced by a sanctimonious establishment of gay men that rewards those who play by the rules—and punishes those who don't. The following was written by out gay novelist Bret Easton Ellis on why he refuses to take the politically correct criticisms of his compatriots lying down.]

"Divine," the old, untrue,
nightmare gay stereotype

The new, idealized, PC gay stereotype

5/13/2013

by Brett Easton Ellis [truncated, edited and partially cleared of obnoxious trendy jargon by FT]

Was I the only gay man of a certain demo who experienced a flicker of annoyance in the way the media treated Jason Collins as some kind of baby panda who needed to be honored and praised and consoled and—yes—infantilized by his coming out on the cover of Sports Illustrated?  Within the tyrannical homophobia of the sports world, that any man would come out as gay (let alone a black man) is not only an LGBT triumph but also a triumph for pranksters everywhere who thrilled to the idea that what should be considered just another neutral fact that is nobody’s business was instead a shock heard around the world, one that added another jolt of transparency to an increasingly transparent planet. It was an undeniable moment and also extremely cool. Jason Collins is the future. But the subsequent fawning over Collins simply stating he is gay still seemed to me, as another gay man, like a new kind of victimization. (George Stephanopoulos interviewed him so tenderly, it was as if he was talking to a six-year-old boy.) 

In another five years hopefully this won’t matter, but for now we’re trapped in the times we live in. The reign of The Gay Man as Magical Elf, who whenever he comes out appears before us as some kind of saintly E.T. whose sole purpose is to be put in the position of reminding usonly about Tolerance and Our Own Prejudices and To Feel Good About Ourselves and to be a symbol instead of just being a gay dude, is—lamentably—still in media play.

The Gay Man as Magical Elf has been such a tricky part of gay self-patronization in the media that you would by now expect the chill members of the LGBT community to respond with cool indifference. 

The Sweet and Sexually Unthreatening and Super-Successful Gay is supposed to be destined to transform The Hets into noble gay-loving protectors—as long as the gay in question isn’t messy or sexual or difficult. The straight and gay sanctimoniousness that says everyone gay needs to be canonized when coming out still makes some of us who are already out feel like we’re on the sidelines. I’m all for coming out on one’s own terms, but heralding it as the most important news story of the week feels to me, as a gay man, well, kind of alienating. 

We are apart because of what we supposedly represent because of… our… boring… sexuality—oh man, do we have to go through this again? And it’s all about the upbeat press release, the kind of smiling mask assuring us everything is awesome. 

God help the gay man who comes out and doesn’t want to represent, who doesn’t want to teach, who doesn’t feel like part of the homogenized gay culture and rejects it. Where’s the gay dude who makes crude jokes about other gays in the media (as straight dudes do of each other constantly) or express their hopelessness in seeing Modern Family being rewarded for its depiction of gays, a show where a heterosexual plays the most simpering ka-ween on TV and Wins. Emmys for it? 

Why isn’t the gay dude I have always known and the gay dude I have always wanted to be not front and center in the media culture now? But being “real” and “human” (i.e. flawed) is not necessarily what The Gay Gatekeepers want straight culture to see.

***

I was invited to the GLAAD media awards last April ... The night was going to honor Bill Clinton — bizarre since Clinton had signed DOMA and 'don’t ask, don’t tell,' but GLAAD has also honored Brett Ratner this year after he had innocuously said,  “Rehearsals are for fags.” and was forced to repent. ... I accepted and started to worry about what I was going to wear. At the time I really had no idea that GLAAD harbored any resentment against a gay man who sometimes expresses his distaste with the stereotypical way Hollywood represents gays in transgressive language on my Twitter account.  ...

[E]ver since I realized I was gay I have always supported gay rights ... I have not, however, supported the way gay people have been portrayed in the media, ... but since I know so many gay men who feel like I do—that they are represented in some kind of unending gay minstrel show in movies and on TV often created by gay writers and producers, or just conveniently ignored—I assumed that the community I was supposedly a part of was as inclusive as I. ... Certainly I hadn’t fucked-up as many gay lives as Bill Clinton had. So: I was going to the GLAAD awards. ...

The day before the event my agent texted me and told me that GLAAD was “furious” with [me] and that I had been disinvited.  ... The agent had sent me part of GLAAD’s email along with their “instructions,” saying that they hoped I wasn’t disappointed by the news ... They also said they hoped that I would not go public... about this decision. They suggested, like they are prone to do (especially with dudes who have somehow “transgressed” the GLAAD Rules of Humorless Social Etiquette), that they have a “sit down” with me. As a gay man, I could only think: Where in the hell are we? Gay Elementary School? I apologized to the agent for any embarrassment this might have caused her and tweeted about the news. ...

GLAAD was at the red-hot center of creating The Gay Man as Magical Elf in the culture and often awarded the stereotypes parading around in embarrassing queer movies and degrading retro sitcoms as simply “gay positive” because they were, um, gay, and conveniently disregarded the fact that there is a silent majority of gay men who actively loathe and resist the caricatures on display. And, no ... these men don’t hate themselves.

Gay activists dive-bombing other gays who express an opinion that doesn’t lean toward their agenda means that within the gay world we are living in a very simplistic place. ... 

When a community prides itself on its differences and uniqueness and bans the gay man because of the way the gay man expresses himself—then a corporate PC fascism has been put into play that needs to be seriously reconsidered by the LGBT community. This is a problem: If you are a gay man who is not The Gay Man as Magical Elf, then you run the risk of being ostracized by the elite gay community. ...

***

An openly gay director ... said that he agreed with much of what I had [written], especially how aggravating it was to see gay people still portrayed in entertainment as basically bitchy clowns or the [effeminate] best friend or now, on Scandal, “The Evil Republican.” 

What exactly drew the ire of GLAAD and threw them into a hissy-fit? 

[B]ecause of something I tweeted they assumed that I believe that gay actors can’t play straight roles. Wrong. I never said [that]. ...

***

I’ve been accused by a few vocal sections of the gay community of being a “self-loathing” gay man. I might be a little self-loathing at times ... but it’s not because I’m gay. I might come off that way because I think life is essentially hard and that scalding humor and rallying against its absurdities is the path on which to move through the world—and sometimes that means making fun of myself or lashing out at media targets ... That a gay man can’t make a joke [about] AIDS ... without getting punished [and labeled as] “self-loathing” is indicative of the new gay fascism. 

The real shame isn’t the jokey observation, [it’s] the PC gay reaction to the jokey observation. 

The real shame is that most gay men—who are every bit as hilariously filthy, raunchy and un-PC as their straight male counterparts—have to somehow tow the GLAAD party line in public or else be criticized. A lot of gay men probably feel they can’t be provocative, raunchy or politically incorrect in the mainstream media because it doesn’t represent The Cause. 

This is where we’re at now, I guess. Within the clenched world of the gay PC police there has been a tightening of the reigns. It’s as if in this historic moment for gay men we somehow still need to be babied and coddled and used as shining examples of humanity and objects of fascination—the gay baby panda—and this is a new kind of gay victimization. The fact that it is often being extolled by other gays in the Name of the Good Cause is doubly stifling. ...

***

Jason Collins ... is, in this moment a legitimate hero if not just an OK basketball player at the end of his career, but the over-protectiveness and the avalanche of acceptance is also for some gay men a kind of condescension. It says that if you are gay in this moment you automatically represent something, and you are expected to play this role just because of your sexuality. 

What this notion leaves out is that: We are not all well-adjusted ... We’re not all happy queers ... some of us are cranky, depressed wrecks. ... Some of us feel the need to express our “gay” selves any way we want to, even if that doesn’t conform to “gay positive” stereotypes. ...

Where’s the not-famous, sloppy, somewhat lazy gay dude who doesn’t mind being gay but just doesn’t care about being PC or being an example of “moral uplift?” the guy who just wants to get on with his life ... without becoming a label? The gay man who feels he doesn’t have to march in the parade while smiling? 

The inclusion and promotion of this common gay man by the Gatekeepers of Politically Correct Gayness would be ... shattering. It would be a massive move toward eliminating The Gay Man as Magical Elf.

Someone like Jason Collins may have moved us much closer to acceptance, but the fact ... remains that if you aren’t a happy homosexual totally at ease with yourself, promoting healthy mainstream values mirroring The Culturally Correct Gay Elite, then you’re considered a self-hating homo. This is still the ... heart of The Gay Lie.

http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2013/05/13/bret-easton-ellis-gay-men-magical-elves