Episcopalianism Conversion Watch #5

Headdesk.

Episcopalianism Conversion Watch #4

Benedict has been, shall we say, less than awesome when it comes to reaching out to non-Christian faiths.  John Paul was a master of diplomacy, able to offer carefully-worded apologies that got him favorable write-ups in the AP without often actually admitting wrongdoing by past pontiffs.  He managed to maintain the goodwill of the secular media while keeping conservative Catholics happy with such ease and for so long that it seemed like anyone could do it.

Episcopalianism Conversion Watch #3

I’ve long been of the opinion that we ought to give Pius XII’s legacy the benefit-of-the-doubt, but beatification?  Come on.

The rush to beatify everybody and his brother is getting pretty stupid.  I’m pretty sure I’m next in line.

I Can’t Believe We’re Losing to This Guy

 

John McCain Thinks American Workers Are All Too Lazy.

Sarah Palin Has Never Reflected on the Reasons for the Iraq War.

John McCain Made the Most Important Decision of His Campaign Based on the Advice of a 21-year-old blogger.

If You Lost Your Home in the Housing Crisis, John McCain Doesn’t Think You Should Be Able to Vote.

Sarah Palin’s Family Deserves Reproductive Rights, Yours Does Not.

McCain Thinks Courting Fickle Extremists Is More Important Than Getting the Right Person for the Job.

McCain Doesn’t Think He Should Have to Explain Himself To You.  STFU and Read His Books.

McCain Supports Voting Rights for Made-Up Black People.

But Not for Actual Black People.

Sarah Palin Doesn’t Understand What Taxes Are.

Or Where Iraq Is.

McCain/Palin:  Cronyism We Can Believe In.

John McCain Thinks It’s Only Reform When He Does It.

And finally, John McCain Thinks Guarding Children Against Abuse Makes You a Pedophile.

Episcopalianism Conversion Watch #2

“The Church of England will concede in a statement that it was over-defensive and over-emotional in dismissing Darwin’s ideas. It will call ‘anti-evolutionary fervour’ an ‘indictment” on the Church’.”

Posting YouTube Videos Late at Night to Make It Seem Like I Actually Update This Blog

Or:  Kickin’ it Atrios style.

Ladies and gentlemen:  The Rural Alberta Advantage.

The previous times I’ve been this excited about an indie rock band, they were TV on the Radio and The Hold Steady.  

NB:  It may be a bit tacky to link to ancient reviews of mine to prove how ahead-of-the-curve I am/was, but rest assured, it’s mitigated by the utter embarrassment of having anyone (let alone you, gentle reader) read reviews I wrote four years ago.  Also note that it’s been four years since I’ve been excited about an indie rock band.

Your Home for Wild, Baseless Veepstakes Speculation

I know everyone disagrees with me, but I think it’s going be Clinton.  All the “DC insiders” and “campaign aides” quoted anonymously in the press over the past weeks have claimed Biden, Bayh, and Kaine are the finalists, and that Clinton brings too many “problems.”  Every mainstream media piece is all “ZOMG WHAT WOULD HE DO WITH BILL” as if Bill is some rabid dog and not a smart, seasoned, on-message pol who would do whatever the fuck Obama told him to do.  As for the “personal anomosity” argument, well, no one remembers this but a lot people said the same thing about John Kerry and John Edwards in 2004.  Clinton is maybe the most battle-tested politician in the country, and Obama is currently the most successful politician from the Chicago scene.  If you think they don’t know how to put personal feelings aside when it’s time to bust some heads, you’re kidding yourself.

No, the only plausible reason Obama would have for not picking Clinton is that she’s not a “safe” choice.  He currently enjoys a small lead in the polls and the electoral college projections, so his campaign plan could be a simple prevent defense, a la Bush in 2004.  “Just Don’t Fuck Up.”  Picking someone like Biden or Kaine isn’t going to energize anyone, but it also isn’t going to really anger anyone other than a few diehard Clinton supporters, who would’ve been angry anyway.

But I’m not buying it.  If he were making the “safe” choice, I’d have to think he would’ve announced weeks ago.  He’d want to give America time to get to know Biden or Bayh or Kaine before the convention.  He certainly wouldn’t have this elaborate rollout plan scheduled for just before the convention if it was one of those three “Meh” picks that have already been telegraphed.

Plus, today’s addition of Gore to the convention’s big final rally at Invesco Field makes more sense if the VP is someone who’s already scheduled to speak earlier in the convention, as Clinton is.

I’m probably wrong.  I’m probably going to be disappointed when I pay my 25 cents to get a txt from Dave Axelrod telling me that’s Biden.  Mainly I’m putting this post up so that, on the off-chance I am right, I’ll look like a badass.

Update:  Yeah, I’m probably wrong. Damn it.

Everything Is On the Line

Imagine a cultural studies or media studies seminar class maybe 50 years from now.  They’re covering the way mass culture responded to anxieties over terrorism.  The students (with some gently goading from the prof) discuss at length the media hyperventilating over the Anthrax scare.  Later they please themselves with their own insight as they talk about the glut of superhero movies, and America’s desire for a clear enemy and a clear goal.  And with that special brand of condescension only an undergrad can muster, they’ll mock the escapism of “reality” television.

Then they will get to this and there will only be… wha?

Chickens Are Decent People

RIP George Carlin.  I drank a fifth for that ass when you passed.  

Not a perfect man by any means, but still the author of this, maybe the greatest pro-feminist male rant of all time.

On Moderates and Mavericks

   And I, my head in a swirl

Of error, cried: “Master, what is this I hear?

   What people are these, whom pain has overcome?”

   He:  ”This is the sorrowful state of souls unsure,

Whose lives earned neither honor nor bad fame.

   And they are mingled with angels of that base sort

   Who, neither rebellious to God nor faithful to Him,

Chose neither side but set themselves apart–

   Now Heaven expels them, not to mar its splendor,

   And Hell rejects them, lest the wicked of heart

Take glory over them.

Inferno, Canto III