Pagan Musings
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts   [06/25]

It's pagan musing time again in this scribbler's bunker.  This time out, we have two unrelated items that strayed into my consciousness.

Item 1: Questions
Dangerous questions fall into two broad categories.  There are questions you probably shouldn't ask.  And, there are questions you probably shouldn't answer.  Some examples should clarify things...as if you care.

While employed at a small company run by the world's worst business dolt, you meet an employee whose skills vastly exceed the firm's pathetic, balance sheet performance.  No matter how tempted you are, you probably shouldn't ask this 'too good for this place' co-worker: "What went so wrong in your life that you ended up here?"

You're getting ready to go out and your wife, girlfriend, or significant - female - other comes in wearing the outfit she selected.  That's when she asks the question you shouldn't answer: "Does this dress make me look fat?"

Item 2: Redefining Decency
The instant Janet Jackson flashed her ebony-colored hooter at millions of Super Bowl viewers, Amerika's smugly self-righteous asshats launched their decency crusade.  Since I never got up close and personal with Janet's sweater puppies, I can't pass judgement on them.  Are her coco-colored cans ready for prime time?  I don't know, nor am I highly motivated to find out.  I do know that certain ubiquitous boob tube images are much more disturbing than Janet's over-hyped tit.

My brother insists that any job worth doing is worth doing right, a trite assertion that serves a purpose in this discussion.  Setting aside the Decency Crusade's worthiness, this pagan can identify one gaping tyke-terrifying decency - job done wrong - loophole that demands immediate attention.  Which, I challenge you, is more likely to put your egregiously unsupervised tyke into therapy for...decades?  A 30 second glimpse of Janet's jug, or a screen-filling closeup of Michael Moore's bloated mug?  Unworthy as this Decency Crusade is, it must banish Maggot closeups to meet my brother's "done right" criteria.

Medved Spouts Off, Again
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts    [06/23]

Admittedly I expect Kool-Aid Club stalwart, Michael Medved to spout drivel, but there are times when I am compelled to shine the pagan scribbler spotlight on his asinine blithering.  Today, two of Medved's Kool-Aid Club quotes earned a pagan scribbler response.

Medved Quote #1

Medved Quote #2

Assorted Pagan Musings
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts   [06/14]

Several notions strayed into my alleged brain today.  In no particular order, they include:

Evil
In supernaturalist eyes - especially cross cult - evil is not a property inherent in certain individuals.  Evil is a universal force that exists in some disembodied form. 

Avoiding A Hot Election Cycle Potato
The U.S. Supreme Court punted a very thorny issue - the Pledge poop caper - on a technicality.  Rather than rule – quite likely sustaining the Ninth Circuit ruling - they said the dude bringing the suit didn't have legal standing to make the claim.

Talking Points
Elder is getting defensive about W again.  He's citing Ron Reagan's (the son) comment about hacks who wear their religion on their sleeve and insisting it's a swipe at W.  Elder is in serious danger of drowning if he keeps treading water in all that Kool-Aid.  Since Ron didn't name names, why is Elder so defensive about this  comment?  It sounds to me like it's Elder who thinks W wears his religiosity on his sleeve for political purposes.

Ron said "politicians who wear their religion on their sleeve...seeking political advantage.", so why, Mr. Sage did you immediately think it was a swipe at W?  It sounds to this pagan like you're the one who believes that W "wears his religion on his sleeve...seeking political advantage".  Your knee-jerk reaction says a lot more about your attitude/beliefs about W than Ron Reagan's.

Unlike you, Sage, this pagan immediately conjured up several likely 'religion on their sleeves for political advantage' suspects: Roy Moore, Rick Santorum, John Ashcroft, legicrat hacks in Virginia, Massachusetts, Utah.

Reagan Sendoff Memories
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts   [6/12]

Several sights, sounds and incidents from Ronald Reagan's sendoff made a lasting impression.  In no particular order, they include:

Talking Points
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts    [06/09/2004]

President Reagan's death and the spin-doctoring that followed sent several Gipper-related notions through my alleged brain.

Item: The Reagan-Related Spin on Kerry
Rantell, Medved, et al are spinning the Reagan's demise for political purposes by declaring Kerry the un-Reagan.  The blithering goes something like this:

Item: The Left's Spin on Reagan
The leftist media and the talking heads they coddle all seem to spout the same drivel about President Reagan.  Setting aside the handful of terminally hostile hit pieces, the leftist spin goes something like this: 

Missing here is the fun fact that it wasn't the messenger, but his message that resonated with those who still honor him with their greatest respect.

Item:  The Debate over a Meaningful Reagan commemoration
President Reagan's elephant clan admirers are throwing out ideas about re-naming the Pentagon after President Reagan.  Others want to put his mug shot on our currency.  A few opine that he belongs on Mount Rushmore.  All three ideas are frivolous and fail to honor President Reagan's most meaningful - heartfelt - political tenet. 

Given President Reagan's steadfast belief in reducing the size, scope and reach of the federal government, these hacks should honor his convictions by taking a meat axe to the bloated nanny state.  The educrap department would be a nifty place to start, followed by the federal alphabet soup: EEOC, FCC, FDA, DEA...the list is long and growing daily.  The hacks who claim to revere President Reagan should give him what he always wanted: a reduction in the size of our government.  It's the one tribute that he'd support wholeheartedly.

Stray Pagan Notions
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts   [06/02]

Item 1:
Medved was beating the dead losertarian horse again today.  If, as he claims, these liberty espousing clowns are such a non-entity...If they are so insignificant, why does he keep pounding on them?

Item 2:
Two words that should raise an instant BULLSHIT ALERT red flag: "studies show".

Item 3:
Saying that The Maggot lies is like saying shit stinks.  Some things are so self evident they don't need to be stated.

John Asshat Vs State Sovereignty
Source: Pagan Scribbler Tantrum     [6/02]

The oft maligned Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals got one right last week, when in a 2-to1 decision, they slapped down Attorney General John Asshat's attempt to impose his supernaturalist views on sovereign Oregon dwelling individuals.  Citing federal drug laws - the Controlled Substances Act - Asshat tried to nullify Oregon's Death With Dignity Act, but the Ninth Circuit overruled him in its May 26, 2004 decision.  Not that it's any of Asshat's business, but Oregon citizens gave their seal of approval to physician-assisted suicide not once but twice - originally enacted in 1994, it was reaffirmed in a subsequent 1997 vote.  Which part of "butt out, asshole" doesn't he understand?

This isn't the first time John Asshat tried to repeal state sovereignty.  His relentless assaults on Mexifornia's citizen-mandated Medical Marijuana Law are well documented.  Few weeks pass without another Asshat foray against a Mexifornia citizen who is following the state's Medical Marijuana Law.  No wonder W's ratings are so dismal in this lefty-infested, left coast pesthole.

Is John Asshat really that stupid?  Can the highest legal official in this nation be this ignorant when it comes to an individual state's Constitutionally-mandated sovereignty?  No way in cross cult hell.  He knows damn well what the Constitution says, what the Constitution mandates, and he no shit doesn't give a damn.  You see, like too many cross cult zealots, Asshat places his supernaturalism above our Constitution. 

John Asshat is a menace to our inalienable individual liberty and he's gotta go.  The only way to do that involves dumping W in November.  This is not a drill.

FMA Lands With A Thud
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thought   [07/14]

The Elephant Clan's Federal Marriage Amendment laid a rotten egg on the U.S. Senate floor, today, when the cloture motion garnered an anemic 48 votes, including three donkey clan votes.  Despite a massive holy roller lobbying campaign - Pat Robertson, Family Values Fuhrer Bozell, TBN, et all - the FMA's promoters lost 6 elephant clan votes on a politically-tame cloture vote. In a straightforward up or down vote, the FMA itself would fare much, much worse with pachyderm Senators, and these theocratic hacks know it.  Score one for liberty, even if it's only a reprieve.

Afterthought
It's surreal - to the max - when Kennedy, Boxer, Feinstein and the rest are liberty's defenders.  I was distressed - big damn time - to find myself agreeing with much of what they said. I feel a major migraine coming on...but I'll get over it.

Cherry Mama Musings
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thought [09/30]

Given her full-to-bursting personal appearance schedule, the Cherry Mama could use some help from all those blood soaked tome notables infesting the celestial realm. Why is she forced to do all the heavy lifting on this personal appearance gig? What about the apostles, the patriarchs, the prophets and all the other scriptural heavyweights? What, exactly, are they doing that's so damn important? Schmoozing with Old Ka-Boom, listening to his incessant bragging, can't be a full time job.

Although the Cross Dude did send a plastic surrogate to thrill Mexas-dwelling supernaturalists [PIG Holy Roller News, 09/28], the Cherry Mama continues to be the hardest working denizen in the celestial realm. Old Ka-Boom needs to cut Cherry Mama some slack...kick those lazy, celestial dolts where the sun don't shine and send them out to give the Cherry Mama a well-earned break. Don't make me come up there.

A Cutting-Edge Hate Crimes Solution
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [09/24]

If, as hate crime laws imply, some victims are more acceptable than others...If, as these laws insist, some motives for raping, assaulting, or killing another individual are more noble than others, then we need to ‘help’ our easily confused criminals verify that their chosen victim is ‘fair game’ under our hate crime laws. With that noble purpose fixed in our minds, I submit an inspired hate crimes solution.

What we need is a dose of legicrap to help Amerika’s criminals avoid the ignoble ‘hate crime’ label. Since the courts made police work much more complicated with Miranda Warnings, and assorted other nonsense, why not balance the scales with some criminal red tape? The legicrats need to appoint a ‘blue ribbon commission’ of criminals and order this commission to create an official, inclusive, victim-screening questionnaire.

All criminals would be required to obtain a copy of this document from their local library, post office, police station or via an Internet site and carry it with them when engaged in a criminal enterprise. Before indulging in the criminal act, the perpetrator must obtain answers to all of the questions on his list, to verify that his intended victim is not a member of a protected minority. Once so-assured, the criminal is free to rob, rape, assault, deface, or murder, without the stress induced by a potential ‘hate crime’ accusation. Just like that, the hate crime problem is solved.

Memogate Musings
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [09/16]

Item: The Telling Memogate Issue
CBS's hotly-debated memogate show is still newsworthy, but not because certain pesky details keep blowing up in Dan Blather's face. It's newsworthy because, from its inception, it rejected journalistic objectivity and embraced blatant partisanship.

'60 Minutes II' began with a foregone conclusion: A privileged W didn't fulfil his National Guard duties and used political pull to pave the way for him. In their zeal to prove this notion, '60 Minutes II' systematically rejected any fact, interview, account, or document that didn't prove their etched in stone, non-negotiable conclusion.

Dan Blather and his minions call this 'objectivity', I call it a politically-motivated hatchet job. The disputed '60 Minutes II' show might be a lot of things, but one thing it isn't is Journalism.

Item: CBS Redefines 'Credible'
CBS has a twisted notion on what makes a credible news source:

If the source likes, or is indifferent to W, that automatically eliminates them from any/all credible source eligibility.

If the source is vocal about his, her or its dislike - or disapproval - of W, they are deemed eminently credible.

Using these skewed guidelines, Lt. Colonel Killian's son and wife were deemed not credible, while a blatantly partisan, John Kerry campaign supporter, Ben Barnes, and Lt. Colonel Killian's Bush-hating secretary were deemed credible in the extreme. This isn't journalism, it's Kerry-promoting propaganda.

Random Synaptic Activity
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [09/13]

Several unrelated items flashed through my alleged brain.

Item: Is Fidel Eating Those Funny Mushrooms, Again?
Anticipating Hurricane Ivan's arrival in his Marxist eden, Fidel announced that, no matter how much devastation Ivan wreaks, he will not accept any assistance from Uncle Sam. Somebody needs to increase the voltage on Fidel's shock treatments. Fidel, dude, don't hold your breath waiting for Uncle Sam to offer you anything, unless it's a one way ticket out of Cuba.

Item: Assault Weapon Ban Expires
The usual lefty suspects are in a lather because the Federal Ban On Assault Weapons just expired. Hell-A based dweebs, like the Big Apple clown running the LAPD, see oceans of blood running in the streets. Why, now that the law is changed, the lawless scum will be armed to the teeth, Chief Braton blithered. Get a grip dude. They're already armed to the teeth and they didn't get their heavy artillery from your local, street legal gun shop.

Item: Keeping It Warm For...Her?
Increasingly, it appears that John Kerry's primary appeal is the indisputable fact that he's not George W. Bush. His supporters are untroubled by his flip-flops, because his views don't really matter to them. If John gets elected, he faces a very low bar for success: his primary task involves keeping that oval office chair warm until 2008, when Hillary Clinton replaces him.

Blathergate Update
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [09/10]

The CBS fiasco continues to dominate the discussion on vast right-wingnut conspiracy talk radio, and it's topic number one on such reliable right-wingnut Internet sites as News Max, World Net Daily, The Washington Times, and assorted others. Curiously, it's virtually invisible in those notoriously lefty fishwraps: New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and countless others.

There are, here and there, a few lefty [alleged] news sources that are giving it more than a page 9000 mention. One lefty fishwrap that seems 'in the game' is the Washington Post. MSNBC, ABC news and CNN are on it, to varying degrees, but I'm guessing that - barring some major revelation that blows CBS out of the water - it will disappear at all the usual lefty sources by Monday morning.

If there's anything that's newsworthy here, it's a factoid that hasn't been mentioned by anyone - left or right. Why is this 'Sunday Sucker Punch' being wasted early in September, when it's no shit the prototypical "October Surprise"? Why are the lefties wasting it so soon, when, given the proper timing, they could spring it at the last minute - too late for anyone to refute it - and swing the election to Kerry?

There are only two possible answers to this "why now" question. One answer - an answer guaranteed to keep Karl Rove sleepless for weeks - is that this isn't their Grade 'A' October Surprise material. A second, equally plausible answer, opines that Kerry is in such dire straits that his minions think the election will be hopelessly lost by October. Whatever the case, this is only the beginning of a classically vicious Donkey Clan slash and burn campaign. As usual, this pagan scribbler will bring you all the newsworthy tidbits, as they occur.

A Two-Pronged Lefty Media Assault On W
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [09/09]

Terrified by the latest polls that show their homeboy, John 'Flip-Flop' Kerry losing ground, the 'unbiased' news media launched a two pronged assault on W. Leading this desperate attempt to save Kerry's candidacy, CBS and NBC are serving up smears about W antics in bygone days. The 'new' smears feature that tired, warmed over bovine excrement that didn't stick the first 10,000,000,000 times the lefty scum threw it a W, but, these alleged journalists swear, they've really got the goods, this time out.

CBS landed the first sucker punch, last night, when their flagship propaganda show, '60 Minutes II' served up a "W shirked his National Guard duty" piece that featured a guilty confession from former Mexas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes, plus memos alleged to be written by then Lt. Bush's commanding officer, Lt. Colonel Jerry Killian. One problem with their new evidence, is that Mr. Barnes' statements last night, don't jibe, in any way, with his sworn testimony in a 1999 inquiry. Another problem with Barnes as a key witness is the well documented fact that he's tied to Kerry and Kerry's campaign, big time. He's a partisan, a fact that Dan Blather glossed over, if he mentioned it at all.

The bigger problem with the CBS piece, one that keeps mushrooming with each passing hour, is the thrilling fact that the documents cited as 'the smoking gun' on Bush shirking his National Guard Duty are very likely fakes. Several 'documents experts' insist that the font used, a superscript 'th', the curlicue apostrophe, and assorted other stuff are common enough, today, thanks to our computer-based word processors, but, in the early 70's, typewriters were the norm and most - perhaps - all of the items cited weren't available on your trusty typewriter. Lt. Colonel Killian's son - a man who served in the National Guard with his father - states that the unsigned memo cited by CBS doesn't jibe with his father's attitude about Lt. Bush. Moreover, his father didn't write memos to himself, nor did he keep 'private' work-related files at home. It's just not the way his father worked. Killian's widow agrees, stating that her husband didn't type. Although they gave this information to CBS and provided the show's producer with the names of other men who served with W, under Lt. Colonel Killian, none of these 'balancing voices' were included in this CBS hit piece.

The second media assault revolves around factually-challenged biographer, Kitty Kelly, and her new tome, an expose about the Bush family. Her smoking gun, cites W's former sister-in-law, Sharon Bush. According to Ms. Kelly, Sharon Bush said that, during the 80's, W snorted coke at the Camp David presidential retreat. Smelling a W-crushing coup, NBC's Today show scheduled Ms. Kelly for three days, early next week. There's just one pesky problem, Sharon Bush categorically, denies that she told Kitty Kelly a damn thing about W shorting coke at Camp David. Given the way Kitty Kelly's previous biographies were thoroughly debunked as fallacious, she's not an especially reliable source for factual information. NBC knows this and doesn't give a damn. They will do anything, say anything, no matter how erroneous, if it nails Bush.

This two pronged media assault on W tells a rational adult all anyone needs to know about media bias. Both CBS and NBC use dubious sources, willingly, knowingly and they don't give a flaming rip. CBS and NBC deliberately ignore any facts that don't fit their foregone, W is turbo scum conclusion. If anyone still doubts that the dominant news media is no shit, the propaganda arm for the Donkey Clan lefties, they're in a coma. Given that, it’s sheer lunacy to expect objectivity from these alleged journalists, and, that goes double for Dan Blather whose left-wing bias is legendary. Wake up and smell the 'we'll elect Kerry or die trying' media Nazi coffee, shit for brains.

Afterthought:
Does any rational individual give a flaming goddamn what W did, or didn't do, during his colorful, party punk days? Why does anything either candidate perpetrated during the Vietnam era matter? W should be measured on his actions as the oval office denizen. His oval office tenure gives friends and foes alike all the ammo they need. If you're determined to vote him out, cite his Medicare debacle, his bloated educrap bill, his egregiously expensive farm welfare package, his protectionist antics and the way he coddles his lord and master, Vicente Fox. His domestic policies are much more telling than anything he did, or didn't do, thirty damn years ago in the Texas National Guard.

CAIR Doesn't Care
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [09/07]

CAIR's silence on the Russian school massacre is deafening. Where are their angry condemnations of this horrendous crime in the name of their beloved supernaturalism? Here and there, outraged Mecca Maniac voices are speaking up to vilify this massacre as an outrage and a stain on their supernaturalism. But, the CAIR punks are curiously silent.

When it comes to a boom box host's Mecca Maniac joke, a political cartoon, or a Big Apple arcade game, they're all over it with their angry prose. But, when some Russian schoolchildren are slaughter by CAIR's Mecca Maniac homeboys, they can't find the time to give a damn.

Stick your bullshit where the sun don't shine CAIR, because you've finally shown your true colors. Any group that won't condemn this Russian schoolhouse atrocity is a waste of breathable air. If you can't speak out against this atrocity, just shut your goddamn yaps, permanently. Don't make me come over there.

A Primer On Amerikan-Style Class Warfare
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [09/06]

The election cycle is in full swing and both parties are promising to bestow government largesse on those constituent groups that form their political base. Before you surrender to either political clan's Siren song, step back, take a deep breath and consider the underlying notion that's being perpetrated, when Uncle Sam opens his tax-funded wallet.

The Amerikan welfare state is founded on the inherently-unstable collectivist axiom: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. This Marxist mantra isn't cited in those exact words by Amerikan collectivists, but their 'erecting a social safety net' drivel amounts to the same damn thing. Two salient words in this mantra are 'ability' and 'need', so it's instructive to examine each in turn.

In class warfare, transfer of wealth, terms, 'ability' relates to wealth...the property, real and personal, earned by Amerikan achievers. Wealth is a dynamic - not fixed, as collectivists claim - commodity, due to the fact that an individual or firm might, at any moment, create a new invention, process, application, or some other marketplace element that actually creates new wealth, where none existed. The Internet, the personal computer, and cell phones, are items that created new wealth. For all its dynamism, wealth, at any given instant in time, has limits, if one confines it mean the real, personal property amassed by achievers. Real property is where the action is, because it's the 'wealth' class warfare clowns seek to transfer. At a given moment in time, 'real' wealth is finite, so, in theory, it's possible for the class warriors to take all of it.

The other key element in the Marxist mantra, 'need', is also dynamic, but, unlike wealth, need is infinite. If Amerika's social engineers plundered every scrap of wealth from Amerikan achievers and gave it to Amerika's chronically-needy parasites, it still wouldn't be enough. Like a black hole, their need grows stronger, the more you feed into it. In fact, caving in to parasitic need accelerates its growth. Worst of all, the more you try to satisfy a parasite's need, the more obnoxious...the more demanding he gets.

Ultimately, no matter how much you give them, parasites will continue to play their 'need' card. It's the way lifelong parasites function. Contrarily, if you take everything he's got, the looted down to his last dime achiever will immediately amass more wealth, because that's the way achievers function. So, go ahead, class warfare asshats, steal every last dime. It won't do you a damn bit of good, because you'll finish right back were you started. But, be warned, the achievers may not play patsy the next time you come to impoverish them.

When John 'Ultra Liberal' Kerry, Or George 'Big Government, Lite' Bush promises that, under his guidance, Uncle Sam will enrich those deemed 'worthy', stop and consider who is being looted to support this alleged generosity. Stop and consider the greedy, obnoxious, lazy cretins who wear their 'need' like a merit badge. Do that and, perhaps, you'll understand why 'none of the above is acceptable' is the only rational choice in this year's election.

Who Is that Moron?
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [09/04]

This evening, during a futile channel surfing search for no shit entertaining boob tube fare, I spotted a congenital moron wandering around in a raging hurricane. Who, I asked myself, is dim enough to venture outside during a category two hurricane? An alleged journalist, of course, but imagine my shock when the rain-slickered nitwit turned out to be Geraldo Rivera!

It's a known, Journalism 101 fact that these 'standing in a driving rain, trying not to get blown away' gigs are, typically, bestowed on lower echelon news numbskulls. Why did Geraldo get this assignment? What, I wondered, what did Geraldo perpetrate that was so hideous it prompted Ruper Murdoch to condemn him to a Hurricane Frances drenching? In an unusually generous frame of mind, I considered another, much less likely, explanation. This stray pagan notion envisions a too clever for his own good news executive who sees ratings gold if he can televise Geraldo's untimely, Hurricane Frances demise, in living, Fox News Channel, color. Bold New Concept.

Afterthought
Tragically, MSNBC didn't have the nads - or the ratings grabbing vision - to dispatch their two bellowing asshats, Chris Matthews and Keith Oberman for a Hurricane Frances reality check. Given MSNBC's dismal ratings, it's probably the one way this alleged cable news channel comes close to CNN and Fox News.

Lifestyle Choices
Source: Pagan Scribbler Tantrum [09/03]

[Scribbler Confession: This tantrum achieved critical mass, after I read a commentary by Cross Cult Homophobe, Emeritus, Robert Knight, in which he spewed the familiar,'GLAAD BAAG is a lifestyle choice' bovine excrement.]

When the rubber hits the road and they're being pressed to the wall by a well-reasoned argument about homosexuals being 'equal' under our Constitution, the Vast Right-Wingnut Conspiracy's Cross Cult zealots, invariably, attempt to demean homosexuality by insisting that it's a lifestyle choice. Okay, for the sake of argument, let's stipulate that they're right. Before these smugly-sanctimonious supernaturalists start celebrating, they should take a look in the mirror to see someone else who is riddled with 'lifestyle choices':

Marriage is a lifestyle choice.
Parenthood is a lifestyle choice.
Religiosity is a lifestyle choice.

None of these lifestyle choices make you special, privileged, or entitled, simply because your lifestyle choices are, statistically, predominant. The government is not obligated to favor your lifestyle choices anymore than it is obligated to discriminate against other individuals based on what you deem their 'unworthy' or 'unholy' lifestyle choice. So, take your 'Bun Ranger is a lifestyle choice' bovine excrement and stick it where the sun don't shine because it's utterly and completely irrelevant.

Under our Constitution, sovereign individuals - independent of their lifestyle choices - must be granted identical rights, privileges, obligations and protections. If you don't like it, then you don't understand the inalienable individual liberty on which our nation is built.

Elephant Clan Convention Scorecard
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [09/02]

If any Goldwater-Reagan stalwarts attended this week's Elephant Clan, Big Apple confab, they were no shit invisible on my boob tube screen. Portraying the Elephant Clan as Amerika's first line of defense against external terrorist threats, a parade of pachyderm prattlers never said word one about curbing Amerika's number one domestic threat: unchecked Nanny State growth under Elephant Clan rule. To this sovereign individual, unimpeded Nanny State power is a no shit internal terrorist threat to our inalienable liberty.

Sooner or later, these big government chickens must come home to roost, and when that happens, the Elephant Clan's two dominant factions will square off in a massive, messy, power struggle. W's most enduring legacy might be this party-splitting fight to the death between big government pachyderm punks and terminally pissed 'paleo conservatives' in 2008's election cycle. When the dust settles - no matter which Elephant Clan faction prevails - the inevitable result will be President-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton.

O'Reilly Tripped Up By A NO-NAD Gotcha
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [10/29]

Bill O'Reilly put himself in a no-win situtation when he made all those horndog phone calls to co-worker Andrea Mackris. That's why, despite his on -and off - air bluster, he just cut a deal with his accuser, a deal that includes shut-up and go away money. It's probably the smart move, under the circumstances. Letting this play out in court would further damage his career, because the details in this case paint a very ugly picture of Mister No Spin.

What O' Reilly did - the sexed up phone calls to Ms. Mackris - was moronic, kinky and countless other things, but sexual harassment? No way...not in a rational world. The fact that this dirty talk never involved an explicit - or implied - "play along or you're fired" threat should torpedo any legitimate sexual harassment claim. It should, but it doesn't because a NO-NAD bitch named Catherine McKinnon created a sexual harassment 'gotcha' called "hostile working environment" that makes any man...all men guilty, the instant a wench accuses him.

"Hostile working environment" is a completely subjective concept which is defined by the harassee [the woman in most cases] based on her feelings/sensitivities. Anything a man does - any man, be he co-worker, subordinate or boss - which she 'feels' is sexually motivated can be cited as sexual harassment. Faced with this entirely subjective 'hostile working environment' standard, a man must constantly adjust his every word and gesture to the shifting, unpredictable emotional state of each woman he encounters. Since each woman's feelings are the only measure of a hostile working environment, a man's behavior and/or speech is only as free as the most sensitive woman present will allow (no matter how exaggerated, irrational, or bizarre her sensitivity). It goes without saying that no 'liberated' woman would allow her own behavior or speech to be similarly restricted. Try that and she'll have every feminist shyster bitch on the planet after you.

O'Reilly's antics were far from subtle, but they only qualify as sexual harassment - legally - because Mrs. Mackris 'felt' harassed. Ms. Mackris, voluntarily, stayed on the line while Mister Bill talked dirty. That would seem to imply that she consented to his disgusting behavior, but, thanks to "hostile working environment", she transformed her outraged...sensitivity...her turbulent emotions into an enriching experience. How enriching? No details are available, but certain self-proclaimed experts put the figure at a cool $10 million in dead presidents.

If there's a lesson here, it's the thrilling fact that any dude can be nailed for sexual harassment, any time a female co-worker decides to press the charge. You don't need to be an O'Reilly-class pervert to get nailed, because, like it or not, your behavior is regulated by the sensitivities of your most irrational, hypersensitive co-worker. If she chooses to interpret your "hello" as sexual, kiss your ass goodbye. Maybe O'Reilly did all dudes a favor by putting "hostile working environment" back on News Nazi radar. Be careful dudes...be very careful, because that dolly who laughs at your off-color joke might be another Andrea Mackris playing "hostile working environment" gotcha.

Yasser's Ailment
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [10/27]

News Nazis were forced to abandon their wall-to-wall election cycle coverage when news broke that everyone's favorite terrorist emeritus, Yasser Arafat, is feeling turbo puny. That fast, News Nazis switched gears and started spewing dark predictions for a post-Arafat Middle East. As thrilling as all this must be for cable news junkies, it does raise a possibilities that nobody - except someone with my twisted imagination - could envision.

Theory One - Curious Timing
Am I the only one who noticed that the timing is very convenient for a certain oval office dwelling candidate? Yasser conks out for a few hours and, just like that, all the News Nazis switch from the tiresome 'where are those 377 tons of high explosives that disappeared on W's watch' to this Arafat on his deathbed story. If this Arafat story has legs, it won't shock me when John 'Flip-Flop' Kerry reaches the same conclusion I did: W induced Arafat's illness to distract the Kerry-loving News Nazis during the critical last days of the election cycle. An Arafat death watch knocks Kerry right off the newscast, during the critical phase of his presidential quest. Karl Rove strikes again? Drat that evil, Elephant Clan genius...

Theory Two - Arafat's Recovery
When the News Nazis, dejectedly, announced that Arafat appeared to be 'stabilized', another theory popped into my hyper-active brain. Obviously, somebody explained to Yasser that his deity's 72 virgin bonus isn't conferred on those who die in bed. The minute he got that hot memo, his health started to improve dramatically. That easily, hanging around a while longer sounded much, much better.

Daring to think outside the box is one reason that I'm PIG's pagan scribbler and you're not. Neener, neener, neener.

A Curse Finally Ends?
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [10/20]

Once again, the Boston Red Sox are in a position to shake off the venerable (1918, I think) Curse of The Bambino. According to baseball lore, the curse got laid on the bean town team when they traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Since then, according to curse purists, the Red Sox were hexed into World Series loser status. Several times, since this curse began, the Red Sox made it to the series, but, each time, they were defeated. This year, the team is back in the 'Fall Classic' again, but, according to the usual suspects, the curse will be defeated.

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that the Red Sox actually win the World Series this year, is ending the curse really a good thing? I'm sure that shaking of the Bambino's Curse thrills all diehard Red Sox fans spitless, but it does have a down side. In this pagan scribbler's opinion, it's the Bambino's curse and the fans' pent up expectations that make the Red Sox noteworthy. It's the Curse that gives the Red Sox their unique...character. Once the Curse is gone, they become merely mortal, instead of mythical, because, the instant the Red Sox break the Curse, they're just another baseball team.

Afterthought
A recent newsgroup posting served up this compelling tidbit:

I work with a few really hardcore Boston fans and they are of course excited, but one privately admitted to me yesterday that he's kind of scared of them winning. The idea that there is some mystical force preventing them from winning a series is a great out, because in his words, "without the curse we've just been losers for 80 years."

Truer words, sports fans...truer words...

Nightmarish C-SPAN Programming
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [10/17]

One of the C-SPAN channels - the one that perpetrates the book talk shows - served up a quartet of Amerika-hating way lefties who spouted the usual 'Amerika oppressed those peace-loving Mecca Maniacs into attacking us' drivel, among other things. They tied it up, some-damn how - with their familiar, Marxist, rants against unfettered capitalism. The thrilling fact that Noam Chomsky was the show's foremost Amerika-basher tells you all you need to know about this boob tube blithering.

The four perpetrators all served up the same drivel: Amerikan Imperialism oppressed peace loving Mecca Maniacs in general - including, no doubt, Osama and his pals - into attacking us. Oh really? Noam and his comrades need to brush up on their history. Militant Islam painted a 'kill first, ask questions, much, much later...if you're in the mood' bull's-eye on the Infidel, at this supernaturalism's inception...in the seventh century. For those readers who - like Comrade Chomsky, et al - are historically challenged, I'll remind you that this "death to the Infidels" mantra started 800 years before Chris Columbus blundered into the new world. That's right, this 'death to the Infidel's' gig started a thousand years before America's founding fathers gave King George III his walking papers.

Did Amerika's alleged imperialism make the Mecca Maniacs destroy the Eastern Roman Empire? Did Amerikan imperialism force Mecca Maniacs to swallow up the Middle East, all of North Africa, the Balkans, and Spain? Wake up and smell the Jihad coffee, Noam. Militant Islam put a holy 'hit' on the Infidel a millennia before Amerika was a gleam in Thomas Jefferson's eye.

The Bedrock Upon Which America Was Built
Source: Major Pagan Scribbler Tantrum [10/15]

We live in an era dominated by such first amendment assaults as Campaign Finance Reform, and the escalating Thought Police [FCC] vendetta on broadcast speech. We live in an era in which a sovereign individual may have his rightful property seized by the almighty state and given to another private citizen whose only claim is deeper pockets. We live in an era in which the private behavior of consenting adults is criminalized by a smugly sanctimonious majority. We live in an era in which, everywhere we look, our inalienable rights are being eroded. We live in an era in which the Founding Fathers' vision for a nation founded on inalienable individual liberty isn't even given lip service by the dominant political clans' presidential candidates.

At some point after the Constitution was implemented in 1789, America - a nation founded on inalienable individual liberty - became a neo-socialist blight named Amerika - a nation steeped in 'protected minorities', class warfare and parasite coddling. With another election reaching critical mass, it's a perfect time to remind everyone about a noble, political experiment named 'America'.

America’s founding fathers recognized that the inalienable rights of sovereign individuals are our birthright, not something conferred by government fiat. It doesn’t matter if they deemed these inherent, inalienable individual rights a fact of nature or a gift from some illusive deity. It’s only important to understand that the inherent, inalienable rights of sovereign individuals are the bedrock on which the founding fathers constructed their new nation. This point cannot be overemphasized. The religiosity or lack thereof of our founding fathers misses the point. The familiar refrain that this a Christian nation is also beside the point. The foundation on which this country was built isn’t the Ten Commandments, the Bible, Christianity, or a generic belief in a supreme being. This nation was constructed on the solid ground of the inherent, inalienable rights of sovereign individuals.

This uniquely American doctrine of inalienable individual liberty was, eloquently, set forth in the Declaration of Independence. Later, our Constitution imposed explicit restrictions on the government’s activities, placing our inherent, individual rights, our birthright, beyond the reach of aspiring tyrants. The central, non-negotiable fact of American life is that a sovereign individual’s inalienable rights cannot be voted away, nor are they subservient to a tyrannical majority’s mercurial moods. Too often, we lose sight of the essential truth that individual liberty is not a popularity contest, nor is it determined by opinion polls. The underlying concept that forms the our country’s foundation is not, never has been, whatever the majority wants is cool. The Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and the Bill of Rights were not written to enforce the majority’s fickle whims. These documents were specifically written to protect the inalienable rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority, especially if said minority is one sovereign individual.

It’s always easier to steadfastly defend the inalienable rights of individuals with whom we agree. The real test of our principles comes when we must steadfastly defend the inherent, inalienable, rights of someone with whom we vehemently disagree. This clash between inherent, individual liberty and one’s personal beliefs is most contentious when religion is involved. Too many American true believers feel that their visceral, religious obsession automatically repeals the inherent, inalienable rights of sovereign, non-believing individuals. Our birthright of inalienable, individual rights is not, cannot be, negated by the prevailing supernaturalism of the majority. None of America’s ‘god-fearing’ founding fathers would deem it a proper role for the government they toiled so hard to create to infringe on the inalienable rights of a sovereign atheist individual.

Our founding fathers created the first nation in which a sovereign individual’s inalienable rights reign supreme. It’s time for each and every sovereign, American individual to rededicate himself to this uniquely American principle. It's time to put an end to group think, parasite coddling and class warfare. It's time to return to inalienable individual liberty and it's corollary individual accountability. It's time for each and every sovereign American individual to demand that our elected representatives get back to basics. It's time for each and every sovereign American individual to demand the restoration of America's founding principles.

In this battle to restore our liberty, failure is not an option, because the alternative to inalienable individual liberty is abject slavery to an all-powerful nanny state. That might thrill you spitless, but this American anachronism - the fabled rugged individual - won't accept his nanny state shackles without a fight.

Pagan Goes Postal, Film At Eleven!
Source: Pagan Scribbler Hissy Fit [10/14]

We’ve all endured those boring, snail’s pace, boom-box commercials where the announcer speaks so slowly he sounds like a retard. There's no way in hell that you'll miss a single word. In fact...if you're anything like me...you feel like reaching into that boom-box, grabbing this slo-motion asshat by the throat and bellowing: "Enough already! Spit it out or shut the hell up!" As bad as this slower than molasses prose is, there's something infinitely worse.

The part that puts me on the ragged edge of going postal happens during the last few seconds of the pitch, when a warp speed word flogger jumps in to reel off a mega wad of legalese that would fill the Manhattan telephone book. I defy anyone to catch each and every syllable of this shyster-motivated spew. This pagan has an inflexible policy where such ads are concerned: never trust a company whose shyster-imposed product disclaimer is longer than the ‘meat’ of their advertisement. If a product pitch ends with this warp speed shyster spew, avoid their product like it’s tainted with ebola. You heard it here, first.

The Unasked Question
Source: Pagan Scribbler Tantrum [10/11]

When this week's third, and final, presidential debate focuses on domestic policy, both candidates will, deliberately, ignore the 8,000 pound, domestic policy gorilla that tops many Amerikans' burning issues list: immigration. The border-jumping tidal wave that turns cities like Hell-A into squalid, third-world, cess pools won't merit a single question, nor will either candidate mention this politically radioactive 'I' word.

Maybe, you opine, the moderator can't find the right question. No problem, I've got the perfect question locked and loaded:

Approximately 500 million aspiring border jumpers live between the Rio Grande and Tierra Del Fuego. How many of these chronically-needy parasites get to infest our nation - un-damn-invited - before, you, and Amerika’s other political hacks, wake the hell up and understand that unrestricted immigration is a goddamn problem?

That deafening silence is the only response you'll get from either candidate. Since the hacks refuse to confront this issue, it's time for Amerika's rational adults to get serious about illegal immigration. The best way to get that done is by throwing all these asshats out on their fat, public payroll asses. If the current political hack crowd won't do something about illegal immigration, we'll replace them with someone who will.

Stand up and be counted. Hold the hacks' feet to the fire on illegal immigration. Don't ask, demand that Amerika defend our national borders...by any means necessary.

Assessing Specific Flavors of Supernaturalism
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [10/08]

[The world's primary flavors of supernaturalism are feeling picked on and misunderstood. Cross Cultists view themselves as besieged by assorted secular forces, so they're doing their best to defend themselves from such pernicious blights as gay marriage, rampant moral decay, and militant secularism. Mecca Maniac activist groups worry that their supernaturalism is viewed - erroneously, in their opinion - as inherently violent, oppressive and liberty's mortal enemy. Both Cross Cultists and Mecca Maniacs are doing their best to address these 'problems', basing their PR campaigns on their scripture and theology. Both supernaturalist flavors are missing the point.

The following commentary prepares the reader to filter though this supernaturalist spin and get at the essentials about a given supernaturalist flavor.]

It's human nature to present your brand of supernaturalism in the best light possible. It's the spiritual equivalent of showing someone your 'best side'. In the 21st century, favored supernaturalism descriptors include: peaceful, loving, forgiving, understanding and everyone's runaway favorite, tolerant. Each sect seeks the moral high ground as a religion of tolerance, but some do so with such deafening fervor that I'm compelled to invoke Shakespeare: "Methinks, thou dost protest too much."

What, precisely, is the most accurate way to assess a given flavor of supernaturalism? The three criteria offered by most supernaturalists are: the sect's professed theology; the sect's holy scripture; the sect's history, as demonstrated by their most significant historical figure(s)...a founder, a patriarch, a prophet, or a savior/messiah. The best way to understand how these criteria work together to define a belief system is by examining each criteria individually.

Each major supernaturalist sect traces its inception back to one specific individual. Torah True Believers cite a patriarch who initiated the 'covenant' with Old Ka-Boom. Mecca Maniacs cite their prophet, Mohammad. Mormons cite their leader, Joseph Smith. The Cross Cult cites a god in human form, their savior, the Cross Dude. In each case, this individual has a hotline to his version of Old Ka-Boom. In each case, this individual gets the straight from Old Ka-Boom skinny on certain essentials relating to core, true believer issues: codes of conduct, rules of engagement, rituals, etc, always in considerable detail. This leads directly to the next criteria: holy scripture.

All scripture is reputed to be divinely inspired, but at least one, the Mecca Maniac tome, is Old Ka-Boom dictating scripture, directly, thru one individual, Mohammad. The Book of Mormon filtered all the scriptures through the sect's principle prophet: Joseph Smith, but, unlike Mohammad, Joseph Smith only translated a written, scriptural record. The Torah and the Blood-Soaked Tome, are filtered through selected third parties - usually several of them - documenting the lives of important individuals, including their chats with their deity. The single source (author) model, usually written during one, prolonged period of divine inspiration, appears to be more coherent, but the chaos stemming from the multi-authored Blood-Soaked Tome doesn't seem to bother Cross Cultists, so who am I to quibble.

The final criteria - theology - evolves from specific tenets laid out in their scripture. The Cross Cult needed to perform an extra step, since they were loaded down with a vast selection from which to choose. In their case, armed with the provenance attached to each scripture candidate, they performed a selection process during which each book offered for consideration got voted in, or out, of the Blood-Soaked Tome. In all supernaturalist sects, once the final scriptural version is formally adopted, the approved scripture door is closed, permanently, preventing any future - potentially disruptive - scriptural outbursts.

Long after a supernaturalism's scripture is locked in place, theology continues to evolve, due, in large part, to the fog of time that renders certain historical facts, events and individuals indistinguishable from pious myth. It's this theological evolution that caused (continues to cause) the relentless fracturing within cross cultism. Although Islam appears to be monolithic, it, too, has its internal fractures, with two primary sects: Sunni and Shia, plus assorted other subsects. Torah True Believers come in several subflavors, and there are at least two versions of Mormonism. Theology, it seems, is mercurial, and subject to wide, conflicting interpretation. That's hardly a commendable pedigree for an evaluation criteria.

Armed with this overview, we can, finally, address the essential question: What, precisely, is the most accurate way to assess a given flavor of supernaturalism? Sect history? Sect scripture? Sect theology? All three? It's 'none of the above', because, the answer lies elsewhere. In the 21st century, the only meaningful measure poses this question: How do a supernaturalist sect's adherents implement the theology derived from their sect's scripture and history? Beliefs are irrelevant. Ancient words and deeds are equally irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what the believer does with them. That is the only pertinent measurement criteria for any supernaturalist sect. The actions that matter are those involving the adherent's existing political environment. All sects stray into the political realm, to some extent, but Mecca Maniacs are, by far, the most egregious offenders.

When supernaturalists make their sales pitch - spouting bovine excrement about their sect's amazing tolerance - don't let them distract you with their theology, scripture and ancient history. Ignore all this self-serving hot air and evaluate their 21st century actions. Force them to justify the actions taken in the name of their sect, here, now, today. Hold their feet to the fire over their infringement of individual liberty. Make them answer for imposing their quaint supernaturalism on those who don't share their pious delusions. Are they legislating morality? Are they practicing supernaturalist indoctrination in their nation's schools? Do they impose free speech abolishing laws concerning journalism, popular culture or, perpetrate such over the top bovine excrement as blasphemy laws? If the answer to any of these and other, similar, questions is 'yes', then tolerant, they aren't. Before you buy into a supernaturalist sales pitch, ask the hard questions.

Sean is spewing color-coded drivel about the way libs are treating W's appointees. Once again, Hannity's Kool-Aid swilling is no shit out of damn control. After listening to his drivel, I jotted down some stray thoughts on the subject...

Sean is perpetrating a color-coded bean counting that stresses certain W appointee's racial/ethnic pedigree over their more relevant, individual, merits and/or accomplishments. Hannity seems to elevate immutable traits - race, ethnicity - over all other considerations when it comes to W's properly-hyphenated nominees: Condi Rice (Secretary of State), Carlos Guiterrez (Secretary of Commerce), and Alberto Gonzales (Attorney General).

Implicit in Hannity's rant is the unequivocal - unspoken - tenet that opposing any of W's properly-hyphenated nominees is racist, no matter why you're opposing them. Sean steals a page from the lefty hack playbook when he insists that nobody is allowed to question W's properly-hyphenated nominees, because to do so, for any reason, is blatant racism. Due to their immutable traits, Rice, Gutierrez and Gonzales must get a free pass, so sayeth Sean Hannity.

Staying with this color-coded blithering, Hannity spewed impassioned drivel about the racial/ethnic diversity of W's appointees. Staying with the lefty playbook, Hannity borrows another time-tested lefty ploy when he gives his seal of approval to superficial diversity based on immutable traits. Ironically, Hannity is endorsing the same diversity bovine excrement that he excoriates when it's perpetrated by Ivory Tower eggheads. A diversity of ideas, is nifty, unless it's W's appointees. When it comes to W and his appointees, a superficially-diverse team - based on race/ethnicity alone - is just peachy in Sean's mind.

Condi Rice's race, Carlos Gutierrez Cuban roots, and Alberto Gonzales ethnicity are irrelevant. Either they possess the requisite skills for Secretary of State, Commerce Secretary, and Attorney General, respectively, or they don't. If W deems them qualified, that should settle the matter. If any or all, fail to perform their appointed tasks, their failure will land squarely on W's desk. It's a simple matter of his bad call...his hell to pay.

Harnessing Righteous Indignation
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [11/26]

[Originally, this commentary was written in response to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling deeming the phrase "under god" in the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. With morality voters feeling their oats, after their antics on behalf of George W. Bush, this commentary is doubly relevant. If morality voters feel like doing something useful for a change, I have a few suggestions.]

When three federal judge declared 'under god' unconstitutional, every true believer had a hissy fit. Whenever an 'activist judge' orders the state to remove the 10 Commandments from government property, the righteous right goes postal. Whenever an Educrat expels the Cross Cult deity from government cess-school classrooms, the holy roller horde bellows its outrage. Whenever pernicious secularism gives true believers a boo-boo, they respond with noisy fervor. Brandishing their holy book in one fist, they pound the table with the other, venting their righteous indignation in a relentless, thunderous, din. Now that we know an untapped reservoir of righteous indignation exists, why don't we harness it? Why don't we aim it at something meaningful, for a change?

Why can't the same deafening, righteous indignation be heard when the outrage is a tax system that punishes achievement and rewards failure? Why isn't anyone pounding the table about spending 6 months of the year working to payoff the government? Why isn't anyone thundering about the tax Nazis bleeding our most successful entrepreneurs dry?

Why can't the same deafening, righteous indignation be heard about a government perpetrated by cretins who only care about two things: increasing the scope and duration of their political power; paying off political supporters through political patronage. Why isn't someone pounding the table about the relentless, unconstitutional growth of government power? Why isn't someone thundering about the government's relentless assault on the inalienable rights of sovereign individuals?

Why can't the same deafening, righteous indignation be heard about the way our residual scraps of capitalism are being crushed and corrupted by the ever-increasing burden of government bureaucracy? Why isn't anyone pounding the table about the government's fatally flawed bookkeeping? When it comes to doctored books, fictional bottom lines and fiscal slight of hand, the government makes Enron's financial manipulations look like a petty squabble about a badly-run lemonade stand. Why don't we hear some thundering outrage about this?

Why can't the same deafening, righteous indignation be heard about a government school system that stopped trying to educate decades ago? Why isn't someone pounding the table over the fact that educational ineptitude is so rampant in government cess-schools that they can't even perform their self-appointed task: indoctrinating the young minds full of mush in their care? Why isn't someone thundering about high school graduates who can neither read nor write?

Why can't the same deafening, righteous indignation be heard about the fact that a critical mass of our citizenry spends every waking hour, 'working the system.' Why isn't someone pounding the table about Amerika's greedy, obnoxious, lazy dolts who seem to be saying: "I see all these uppity types in their big cars, with their fat bank accounts and their college education telling everyone all you need to do to get ahead in Amerika is study hard, keep your nose to the grindstone and pull yourself up by the bootstraps. That's bunk. I got me something lots better. I got me a congress punk and all it cost me was one measly vote. Thanks to him, I'm eatin from that hard-work fool's table, spending money from his bank account and it only cost me one vote. Hell, if I ask that congress fella, he'll have me doin this 'study hard' fool's wife. I'm thinkin I'll ask that congress fella for that, next election cycle." Why isn't someone thundering about an alphabet soup of greedy, obnoxious, lazy dolt-coddling congressional brain-farts?

If righteous indignation is a surplus commodity, why not direct it a something meaningful? Compared to an obscene tax system that punishes achievement, an out of control government, government cess-schools whose only product is politically-correct idiots with self-esteem, and all the rest, the familiar true believer laundry list of complaints pales by comparison. It's a simple matter of setting reasonable priorities. It's as basic as 'first things, first'.

Random Synaptic Activity
Source: Pagan Scribbler Stray Thought [11/22]

For those who keep track, here's another fearless pagan prediction:

The 2008 Oval Office derby won't be about the economy, nor will it be about terrorism. The central issue will be immigration. That's why John 'Open Borders'McCain is a dubious candidate.

VRWC Boom Box Blithering
Source: Pagan Scribbler Mini Tantrum [11/15]

Hannity is blithering about judge nominees. He's up to here with Donkey Clan litmus tests imposed on W's Federal Judgeship nominees. He claims that these dastardly lefties, categorically, eliminate certain 'intolerable' beliefs: life begins at conception evangelicals being a prime example, in his estimation. Lefty litmus tests? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you.

Sean claims that 'the radical left' is unique in this philosophical litmus test thing. His beloved Elephant Clan won't go there, he insists...Oh really? Would his Elephant Clan homeboys confirm a strict constructionist judge whose judicial record was beyond reproach, if said judge made no pretense about his atheism? I way don't think so, Tim.

Hannity also chimed in on an Amendment to allow the Terminator to become President:

"The Constitution is very hard to amend. This isn't the time for such an amendment...I like Arnold...I really do..."

Translation: "I'm thrilled Arnold is Governor of Mexiforian (A blue state), but no way in hell would I want this unabashed social liberal in the Oval Office."

Mob Rule
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [11/14]

"Lawmaking inevitably involves some group imposing its beliefs on the rest of us. That’s the nature of the democratic process." Archbishop of Denver endorses Mob Rule.

"A man has no freedom of thought if the State has the power to force its beliefs on him. Nor can a man pursue his own happiness, or even express himself freely, if society has the power to seize his means of doing so (i.e. his property)." Amit Ghat

"... individual rights are absolutes; you either have them in their entirety (regardless of anyone’s vote), or you don’t have them at all (e.g. if they can be forfeit to the "democratic" impulses of the mob at any time)." Amit Ghat in a Capitalism Magazine Commentary

[Although written some time ago, this pagan commentary is especially appropriate with the family values crowd energized by the highly publicized 'morality mandate'. Emboldened by the fun fact that they perpetrate a critical mass in numerous red states, these rigidly righteous righties are falling back on a timeless, too often successful, political ploy: Mob Rule. Their mantra seems to proclaim: "We can set any rules we want, because there are more of us than there are of you."

Before we travel down Tyranny of the Majority Highway, we need to take a moment to examine Mob Rule and its impact on inalienable individual liberty in the 21st Century.]

Inalienable: Incapable of being alienated, surrendered or transferred < inalienable rights>
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

I finally ‘get it’ about inalienable individual liberty...as espoused by the Vast Right-Wingnut Conspiracy [henceforth the VR-WC]. The VR-WC loves to quote the Declaration of Independence, especially the part that reads "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights". If pressed, they would probably agree that old ka-boom made such inalienable individual liberty 'part of the package' that goes with being born human. What goes unstated is the fun fact that these smugly-sanctimonious supernaturalist storm troopers appointed themselves sole arbiters over which rights any given individual is allowed to use. In other words, their deity gave each individual the ‘potential’ for individual liberty, but the VR-WC gave themselves full and complete control over which ‘inalienable’ individual rights are deemed suitable for ‘society at large’. You are only as free as they allow you to be.

Make no mistake about it, when Medved, Limbaugh, Hannity, Ingraham, Frist, Santorum, et al, say that ‘this is a christian country’ they mean: we decide which rights you may exercise and if you don’t like it, we’ll use government coercion to enforce your compliance. Spewing drivel about ‘traditional family values’, they condemn inalienable individual liberty to the tender mercies of a howling mob. Under this supernaturalist scheme, liberty is never fixed; liberty is whatever the rampaging, self-righteous, holy roller brown shirts say it is.

Nearly 200 years ago, an especially perceptive Frenchman, Alexis De Tocqueville, identified this dark impulse lurking in the Amerikan character and he gave it a compelling label: tyranny of the majority. Since the phrase tyranny of the majority - quite accurately - exposes this fetid notion for what it is, the VR-WC tries to distract rational adults by employing fuzz-ball terms like ‘majority rule’, ‘states rights’ ‘traditional values’, and ‘democracy’. Nice try, but, the time for word games is over. It’s time to unmask this crap and view this intolerable assault on our liberty in all its reeking glory. The proper name for this VR-WC bovine excrement is Mob Rule.

Like so many nifty, liberty-zapping schemes, Mob Rule is plagued by the law of unintended consequences. Mob Rule terrorizes due to sheer force of numbers, and that’s Mob Rule’s Achilles Heel. The VR-WC discovered the hard way that once you endorse Mob Rule, you’re always compelled to accept the mob’s dictates, no matter how close to ‘home’ they hit. If you join the howling mob when it criminalizes sexual practices between consenting adults...If you join the mob when it dictates which adults can, legally, become lifemates...If you join the mob when it criminalizes the recreational use of certain plant byproducts - pot, for example...If you join the mob when it evicts evolution from science classrooms, then you must accept those rules imposed by another mob. As a goose-stepping promoter of Mob Rule, you lose the ability to protest when another howling mob criminalizes your cheeseburger with fries cravings, outlaws your nicotine addiction or banishes your SUV from the Amerikan highway.

The entry fee you pay when you endorse Mob Rule is your inalienable individual liberty, so don’t spew your ‘be responsible for your own actions’ crap at this sovereign individual, because I’m no longer listening to hypocrites like you. I see you for who...what you really are: smugly-sanctimonious, aspiring theocrats intent on suffocating inalienable individual liberty through the pious tyranny imposed by your Mob Rule. Don’t expect this sovereign individual to be there for you when the other mob goes after your Whopper, your Winstons, or your Expedition. You made this Mob Rule hell, it’s only fair that you burn in it.

It’s ironic that the same flag waving patriots who proclaim their devotion to the inalienable individual liberty this nation was founded to protect, hold this bedrock American concept in such low regard. They no longer have the right to quote Thomas Jefferson’s timeless words:

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness..”

These Mob Rule theocrats no longer understand this non-negotiable concept - inalienable individual liberty - and they’re an insult to all the true patriots who sacrificed so much to “secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity”.

Assorted Pagan Musings
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [11/08]

Surrender Monkeys :
France dispatched reinforcements to put down a revolt in the Ivory Coast. In related news, there's now a critical security guard shortage in the Surrender Monkey homeland.

Border Jumpers :
"The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing, expecting a different result." (Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

W's guest worker brain-fart - amnesty in disguise - didn't work when President Reagan tried it and it won't stem the border-jumping scumbag tide this time, either. Reagan's illegal immigrant solution caused a border jumping increase and so will this one. Stupid ideas don't get any smarter because someone new spouts them.

Rational Adults Win One :
An Elephant Clan-infested Nevada county served up a nifty shock for its resident Morality Nazi horde when the electorate voted - by a whopping 2-to-1 margin - to keep prostitution legal. Kudos are conferred on Churchill County's rational adults for deep-sixing the Morality Nazi inspired, anti-brothel initiative.

Random Synaptic Activity
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [11/06]

Signs Of The Times
The Headline in a Seattle fishwrap reads: "Man Jumps To Death From Aurora Bridge". The instant I see it, I'm thinking: He's probably a despondent Democrat who can't get into Canada.

Arlen Spector Strays Into The VRWC Bull's-eye
The VRWC [vast right-wingnut conspiracy] lunatic fringe is on the warpath, again. When Arlen Specter dared to stray from the Elephant Clan's 'abortion is icky' orthodoxy, he incurred the wrath of the lunatic, Morality Nazi wingnuts. These family values goose-steppers don't tolerate speech, especially when it gets 'that' free.

Part of the blame for this uproar belongs to Specter who spouted off to a reporter, and part of it belongs to a lefty media that filled the holy roller way right with the notion that they, singlehandedly re-elected W. Determined to flex their political muscle, the holy roller right is mounting a campaign to prevent Specter from taking over the Senate Judiciary Committee chairmanship in January. Big fun...

Room Temperature Border Jumping Transititions
"Groups want better migrant death tallies" Sacramento Bee headline

According to the headline, the usual illegal immigrant coddling suspects want a more accurate count of the scumbags achieving room temperature while trying to sneak into the USA. I'm thinking we don't need a more accurate body count, we need a much HIGHER count.

Election Cycle Musings
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [11/03]

Several unrelated notions set off synaptic activity in my alleged brain, while I ingested the election cycle results. In no special order, these are a few initial impressions:

Zogby Blows It Big Damn Time

John Zogby's 'John Kerry wins in a 330 electoral vote landslide' prediction appears to be the biggest whopper spread on election day. His reputation for getting it right is in shambles this morning. Color me thrilled.

Flynt Emulates Baldwin and Streisand

We won't have 'Hustler' publisher, Larry Flynt to kick around anymore, if he follows up on his pre-election prose:

'..."If Bush is re-elected - but I don't want to even consider the thought for one second - I really have to think about living somewhere else," Flynt said early Monday in a strip club on the Champs Elysees in Paris where he was celebrating his 62nd birthday...' (News 24)

Promises, promises. We've heard the same crap in 2000, when Alec 'Bellowing Asshat' Baldwin, Babs Streisand, et al thrilled rational adults spitless with the same...unfulfilled promises. Unlike the aforementioned Hollywood assclowns, Flynt has one redeeming quality: He majorly pisses off the Morality Nazi horde. Also, this pagan has to cut some slack for a dude who celebrates his birthday in a Parisian strip club...so sue me.

Election Cycle Losers:

Exit polls
Zogby
Soros
Dan Blather and the entire, lefty to the max, News Nazi horde
Michael Moore
Bruce Springsteen and other lefty 'celebs'
The 'youth' vote

Election Cycle Winners:

Barak Obama - rising Donkey Clan Star
Hillary Clinton - presumptive Donkey Clan presidential candidate in 2008
Supenaturalists - they virtually buried gay marriage
Border jumping scumbags - look for a virtual amnesty in the next congress.

Where are they now?

Michael Moore...MIA
Soros....In hiding
Jimmy Carter...hiding out in North Korea?
All those Euro poll observers...Still MIA
Teddy Kennedy...has anyone searched the local adult beverage emporiums?

What Kerry's Nanny State Policies Really Meant

A right to health care is the right to coerce your neighbors into paying for your health care wants and needs.
A right to a 'living wage' is the right to coerce an employer into paying you more than you're worth.
A right to a job is the right to coerce an employer into hiring you, no matter how unqualified you are.

The new lefty mantra

The lefty horde is in a lather over Kerry's defeat, and they're already sounding a dire warning: The Christians are coming...the Christians are coming. Wrong...again, dudes. The Cross Cult was already here, spreading their Morality Nazi job, in their wake, but you were too Neocon bonkers to notice.

Out With The Old, In With The New

Old and busted: Terrible Tommy Daschel....
New, Improved, Donkey Clan Mouthpiece: Comrade Hillary

Old and busted: Neocons....
New, Improved, Right Wingnut Menace: The Religious Right

Old and busted: John Edwards
New, Improved, Donkey Clan Rising Star...Barak Obama

Old and busted: Exit polls
New, Improved, Election Assessment: waiting until the votes are tabulated