[T]he superstition that the budget must be balanced at all times, once it is debunked, takes away one of the bulwarks that every society must have against expenditure out of control. . . . [O]ne of the functions of old-fashioned religion was to scare people by sometimes what might be regarded as myths into behaving in a way that long-run civilized life requires.
Friday, February 09, 2007
My gracious! He said "fuck"!
I give Sullivan a hard time here because I think he's often wrong, gravely wrong. But when he's right, he's right, and very few but Sullivan have been so insistently, eloquently, firmly, decisively and uncompromisingly correct as he has been about torture.
I greatly and without reservation admire Andrew Sullivan for his stand against torture. That this issue has isolated him is terrifying evidence of how quickly and to such depths the moral standards of this, his adopted nation have fallen.
3 comments:
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For a moment there I thought you had linked to the wrong story and were referencing Tweety on The Imus show, and from a cultural point of view a rather strange show at that. Ironic that Tweety was getting irate about faux ranchers, on the Imus show of all places. Now I know little of Imus, but he struck me as one half of a matched pair entitled "All hat and no cattle"
ReplyDeleteThat said, how times do change, not least for those that bend with the breeze, not forgot so soon, by me at least and probably the other 99.9% of those on the left, such saccharine sayings as "cod piece" "manly man" and "sunny nobility" not forgot by a long chalk.
But heaven forbid the "F" word be uttered on air, not least on the air waves of the United States of Hypocrisy, how stands the latest penenalty for such an utterence, some $300.000 if I am mistaken not?
No as the United States continues it's well practiced art, that art of dropping very large bombs from very great hieghts on the vey tender flesh of those poor unfortunates that happen to be in the wrong place, that place invariably being the land that birthed them.
No let us not have the "F" word.
But what are a few bombs in comparison to eighteen million gallons of dioxins that the United States of Hypocrisy rained downed on a defenceless race of people and an equally defenceless Mother Earth.
A race of gentle people who also made the mistake of living in the country that birthed them.
A gentle race of people that today, and for ad infunitum will suffer the legacy of the "Greatest Nation on Earth."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4494347.stm
And much to my shame, an equal legacy being left in Iraq by coalition forces; the use of Depleted Uranium.
But let us not have the "F" word.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/ud_main.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/362484.stm
(1999!)
Not wanting to dilute my previous comment I will post these limericks here. They are tangental to the the first couple of paragraphs in as much that I always considered these two the original "Matched Pair" not a pair of psuedo ranchers but a matched pair of felators of man meat.
ReplyDeleteI am aware their is a more common phrase to describe this activity, but I shall refrain from employing it on the pages of my new found friend.
Now they may not be good, but they were certainly quick, it is of their composing that I speak.
Some while ago I used to comment on a site elsewhere, and as oft as not I would throw together a quick limerick by way of a comment. In my defence I have to say that the limericks did cover the salient points that were topical,and quite numerous, but in their composure non more than five minutes in the making.
So a couple featuring Tweety and the other featuring the other half of that "Matched Pair" Leiberman, who I describe with some passion more, and accuracy in my "What's in your favourites" piece at my homepage.
Tweety how my nerves you do them grate
The way of the lapdog is normally castrate.
Your sweetheart is tanking
Will this stop you wanking
Or forever and ever will you yearn to felate.
Hardball is a big misnomer,
Tweety is a Whitehouse gofer.
One look at George Bush,
On knees he do rush.
Oh daddy let me play with your big soldier.
In backing the war and its slaughters,
Joe ain’t doing what he ought to.
Like some two bit whore,
Of that you’re sure.
Just look at his sackful of quarters.
You're dead on correct about Andy. He has been great about torture. And consistent. I just wish he could be as dead on and consistent about some other things. Oh, well. His inconsistency makes him fascinating. Eventually, someone is going to write a really great biography of him, and it will be really great because he's such a strange character.
ReplyDelete