You are Santa! A bit jaded and extremely cynical.
If only the mall would close earlier so you can
start drinking!

Which A Christmas Story Character Are You?
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Yeah, Mall, hurry up and CLOSE.

Dirty Flower Girl has the lo-down.

Also - does anyone else suspect Joe Simpson is uh, … excited?
And not in the way a person is supposed to be excited in regards to their children?

Sixty years ago, it was a Democratic President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presided over the forced internment of American citizens whose only crime was Japanese ancestry.

Make no mistake, FDR is and should be a hero for all progressives in this country. He was a great man, weakened by physical ills, who overcame the defects in his body to do great things, and the strength of his belief in the greatness of democracy inspired a nation to defeat the greatest evil this nation had ever, to that point, seen.

But FDR made mistakes. He wasn’t perfect, as none of us are. Many people like to speak of studying history so as to avoid the mistakes of previous generations. The internment of Japanese-Americans was wrong, and against the principles of a nation which values freedom and self determination over all else.

So while many of us have learned from the mistakes of the past, USA Today writes that an astonishing “half of all Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim-Americans according to a nationwide poll“.

I’d say, “How much would you like to bet a majority of those opposed to these restrictions voted for John Kerry, David Cobb, Michael Badnarik, or Ralph Nader?” but the article continues by saying that “[t]he survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims’ civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.”

What a surprise. Freedom loving folk oppose measures to restrict people’s freedoms. Huh. I’d've never guessed.

Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim-Americans.

The survey found 44% favored at least some restrictions on the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Forty-eight percent said liberties should not be restricted in any way

Freedom isn’t free, the right likes to quote with a smile. And yet they’re willing to just hand it over in the name of being “safe” and “secure.”

Whatever happened to the attitude in this country, that great revolution demanding freedom without condition, what -IN THE NAME OF GEORGE WASHINGTON’S ASSHOLE - what fucking happened to Patrick Henry standing tall and proud and in the name of freedom declaring, “Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Apparently, some of us would rather go to Walmart.

Look, I get that Blackhawk Down was a movie based on a book written about a tragic situation in American military history where eighteen US soldiers died in an attempt to capture a brutal warlord.

Look, I get that we’re in a modern culture where, if something happens and there isn’t a “made for tv” movie on the air within a month, that “something” gets brushed from the public conciousness.

But isn’t maybe - just maybe - a little too quick to be preparing to film a movie based on the battle of Fallujah? Hell, what do I care, Indiana Jones is in it. I’ll pay eight bucks to watch it.

Remember how I was all worried about my Christmas presents, because the last time Amazon shipped me stuff from Nevada they never EVER arrived?

My packages which shipped only a few days ago have arrived in Sparks, Maryland and the first delivery attempt will be Monday. Hurah! Hurah!

Did you ever see any of the episodes of “Friends” where Chandler walks into a room where Ross and Rachel are having sex, or Joey is choking the chicken, or Monica is making out with Wonkette or whatever, and stops and says in a loud voice, “OH MY GOD!”

Or maybe that was him from The Whole Nine Yards. Well, whatever.

Right, well, click this link and then say (in the same tone, “OH MY GOD”).

Hat Tip: Rock Haus.

“The inability to leave a war zone and lack of safety are the two exact reasons I decided not to join the military.”

Last night was, to put it bluntly, hell.

I worked an “iron man” shift - eleven in the afternoon to ten at night. I don’t know why its called an “iron man” shift, my “iron man” shift was four nineteen hour days back to back.

Anyway, my first group of runs (that’s what we in the “business” call deliveries) was heading out to Falls Road. Fine, great, the tip average out thataway is pretty damn good. I jumped in my car, made a right hand turn onto York Road, and headed into the left hand turn lane behind a big FedEx truck.

Where I remained for ten minutes.

As it turned out, some asshole on the other side of York Road had decided to pull out across traffic in an effort to head north. He’d gotten his truck in the worst possible position - blocking both the turn lane and the left-north bound lane - when he was struck on his passenger side door by an oncoming car that (apparently) couldn’t see him because this asshole was blocked from sight by the FedEx truck.

If you’re familiar with north Baltimore County, you know that the I-83/York Road corridor is one of the most frustrating traffic snarls known to Marylanders. It really makes you wish for car-mounted photon torpedoes, or better: machine guns!

So, with two lanes blocked, traffic slowed to a friggin’ crawl. After sitting behind Mr. FedEx for longer than I should have, I decided “something isn’t right here”, and showing off my talent for being a reckless driver, jumped from the turn lane into the right lane, swished past the accident, and made a nice quick left onto Shawan Road.

Sometimes I really think that people need to test for a new driver’s license every few years, instead of simply renewing them. At the very least, jerks who cause traffic delays to avoid spending an extra five minutes waiting for a light or going the back way, should get a nice hefty fine and a pat on the back.

Aiyeeeargh!

Yesterday, I wrote, “We don’t have time to be going after opposing pundits — if we do, the FCC will catch us blindsided and by the time we recover (if we ever do), it will be all over.

Let us indeed say, in one voice, ‘FUCK YOU GUYS, we’re better than you, always HAVE BEEN, always WILL BE.’”

Froth Slosh B’Goth reminds me, “ahh, but it’s not about getting The Felonious Pill-Popper in trouble. It’s about putting the FCC on the spot. They either apply the standards fairly, or they apply them not at all. If they choose to apply them when the theocrats complain about Desperate Housewives, but not apply them agains Limbaugh, then they proove they are a partisan taxpayer financed regulatory arm.”

And Simian Brain points out, “I’m a liberal. Do you know how very little it troubles me that Rush Limbaugh said “dick”? But conservatives literally lose their minds when things like this happen, so I’m waiting for the Congressional hearings, the “chilling effect” on punditry, talk of Rush going to satellite radio, etc…
But where are all those unhappy Christians who are constantly victimized by their own culture, calling for fingers to be chopped off of Rush’s hand as punishment for cursing?”

Either they have convincing points or I’m easily convinced. Either way, I sent off my FCC complaint and today recieved a reply:

From : FCCInfo
Reply-To : FCCInfo
Sent : Friday, December 17, 2004 10:03 AM
To : malsnay@hotmail.com
Subject : PROBLEM00913709 - Complaint

Cool.

Like, seriously - does anyone study history anymore, or do they just watch “Saving Private Ryan” and think they have a grasp of it, and, well, gee golly - that’s just damn good enough for them!

Take a read of this piece of work which compares the fiasco in Iraq with the European theater of World War II. The author tries to say that the situations are the same - check out this quote: “It was Japan that attacked us, not Germany,” pointed out a Senate staffer. No mention by the author that Germany declared war on the United States mere days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I’m confused - did Iraq declare war on us after September 11th?

The entire article reeks of the bullshit with which it was written. Without understanding history, and with apparent false beliefs on this war in Iraq - that Iraq and Al Queda were allied as closely as Japan and Germany; that Iraq declared war on us; that we had a clear plan for victory in Europe and none in Iraq; where we had lots of ALLIES in Europe with HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TROOPS about us, in Iraq we have, what, a hundred Poles who are going to be gone as soon as they have the opportunity?

Franklin D. Roosevelt was a lot of things. He manipulated people and events to ensure that he was elected to four terms, and took a perverse pleasure in playing those under him against each other. But he also had strong moral courage and a willingness to do what he saw as being right for the country, even with most Americans disagreed with his assessment. FDR took the country to war against evil, and in that regard, George W. Bush did the same in regards to the invasion in Afghanistan - in that case it was Al Queda who were the agents of evil, as the Nazis had been in World War II Germany.

But no such comparisson exists to justify the War in Iraq, no matter how creative the right wing gets.

General Jesus is on the warpath, making you stop and say, “Y’know, I really thought the Republican Party was trying to clean up its image as a party which pandered to the racist and hateful in our nation.”

And then when you think about how much gay-bashing went on in this past election, you shrug and realize, “Well, if it’s okay for them to be this blatant about it, at least they can’t accuse the left of using the ‘race’ card anymore.”

I salute you, sir, for appointing Ron Wilson, a courageous defender of our great Southern heritage, to the State Board of Education. It was a bold move to put a peddler of anti-Semitic books in a position where he can influence a whole generation of Christian white children.

Although respect for slavery is making a comeback in our Christian schools, most people, unfortunately, have been brainwashed into believing that it was an imposition on brown people. In today’s touchy-feely culture, that’s seen as a bad thing, so Lincoln is celebrated.

Damn us touchy-feely folk. Damn us to hell.

Glenn Reynolds jokingly suggests, “Fire Secretary Marshall!”

Lance in Iraq compares Rumsfeld and Iraq to Aspin and Mogadishu.

Remind me again which guy was gone after failing to get the troops the armor they needed?

Remind me again which administration promised to hold itself accountable?

So why isn’t Instapundit calling for Rumsfeld’s head on a platter? Your guess is as good as mine.