You don’t have to look far today to find people talking in plain language how America is the greatest nation in the world. Whether it’s the correspondents on MSNBC, Newt Gingrich, Fox News, it’s basically reiterated every time you turn on the TV, and how Obama, by trying to be diplomatic somehow doesn’t believe in “American Exceptionalism” despite the fact he directly spoke of his belief in American Exceptionalism in his speech in Cairo, is not a believer in America.
I’m not in a position to make a statement on American Exceptionalism, as having never left the country, I have no basis of actual comparison beyond what is jammed into my head by media every day. I’ve never even been to San Francisco, which apparently shouldn’t even be part of the U.S.
Having said that, I have to defer to Lewis Black and his position on American Exceptionalism. As he says,  “There are countries that may be giving stuff away every day. Canada’s one of those countries, you know what they give away? HEALTH INSURANCE!”

In yet another show of just how out of touch they are with the modern youth, MTV has shown how the Grammys will NOT nominate Lady Gaga for Best New Artist.  I mean, she all ready won the VMA award for the same,  because as MTV says -

Few new artists in recent years have made an impact on the pop music scene as quickly as Lady Gaga

And how true that is. Because the pop music scene is such a wonderfully deep arena full of vastly talented people. But she stands above them all. Lady Gaga represents everything about modern pop culture – mediocrity, banality, redundancy, and fashion before talent. And how are we supposed to know who we should be praising if the people who awarded Milli Vanilli and Jethro Tull awards won’t honor her with another misplaced award? Look, Madonna isn’t getting any younger, we need another slutty white girl wearing ridiculous looking fashion to make up for generic music and 8th grade lyrics. And we all know artists like K’naan (I mean, who wants to listen to music about politics, that shit is depressing! and I don’t like to think), or Radiohead (Too many weird noises! His voice is weird), or Sigur Ros (What the hell are they saying, anyway? I want to be able to repeat every word of a song the first time I hear it) are just weird music for those weird art kids. I just wanna dance without having to think that there’s a world beyond my little bubble.

In case you’ve lived on a secluded island for the last couple of years, in which case, Hello! And how can I get there?, you have probably heard of Conservapedia, brainemptyshell project of Andrew Schlafly, son of historically unimportant right wing non figure Phyllis Schlafly, a woman unaware of the irony of a woman opposing the ERA. An examination of their “Commandments” reveals criminal prosecutions to the fullest extent for anyone who may change their site around. This includes

Vandalism is punishable up to 10 years in jail per 18 USC § 1030. Harassment is punishable by 2 years in jail per 47 USC § 223. The IP addresses of vandals will be reported to authorities. That includes your employer and your local prosecutor.

That’s utter professionalism. The phrasing sounds like the same language used by the people who try to prosecute you for walking on “their” sidewalk. I’m sure federal authorities are just itching to arrest the SOB who vandalizes conservapedias well written articles on ID, and liberalism.

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There’s really only one video I’ve seen this week that’s worth repeating (besides Rep. Buyer’s amazing interview) -

1) Auto Tune the News

But in honor of the recent IU conference on Black impact on Rock , I thought that it was worth mentioning the rapper from “the only place more dangerous than Kandahar,  and that’s kind of hard”,

2)  Somalia

It’s nice to know there’s modern music out there that’s not autotuned and doin the stanky leg.

Apparently, in a manner befitting a democratic society, the “Teabagger” groups have decided to burn effigies of Virginia Representative Tom Pereillo and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Because nothing says democracy and freedom like burning effigies suggesting to murder democratically elected public officials. In a small session he had with some of the Teabaggers, Rep. Pereillo attempted to calm their fears, and hear out their opinions.  But of course, you can’t have a conversation about health care reform, particularly with a group of over 50 right wingers, without hearing the  “When I was younger, and didn’t have insurance, I paid out of pocket for it.  Now I have to cover myself, and someone else?” argument akin to the “walking uphill both ways in snow to get to school barefoot” stories. We will never advance as a society, as long as a huge portion of Americans live with the idea “I had to suffer through…blah blah blah…without insurance…now someone else won’t have to suffer? NOT ON MY WATCH!”

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As noted recently in the Washington Monthly, House Republican leader John Boehner has released as a statement bashing Attorney General Eric Holder’s attempt at prosecuting 9/11 mastermind Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed in NYC.  Stating that

“The Obama Administration’s irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people. The possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found ‘not guilty’ due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause.

Boehner points out the flaw in American justice, as clearly there’s a chance that he could be found not guilty, and probably because of liberals. Maybe the ACLU? I’m not sure how after apprehending Mohammed and keeping him as our prisoner for years, now that we are officially prosecuting him, in the manner that western “civilized” society should, that this could be viewed as irresponsible. Perhaps he just watched an old video of Rudy Guliani’s performance after September 11th, and remembered,  utter the words 9/11 – liberal – special interests – and watch your ratings soar!

But, I will give credit, because as Boehner points out

“This decision is further evidence that the White House is reverting to a dangerous pre-9/11 mentality – treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue and hoping for the best. We need a real strategy for fighting and winning the war on America’s terrorist enemies that includes an effective, credible, and consistent plan for all terrorist detainees.”

I mean, after we’ve gone to their country, bombed the hell out of it, and captured the leader, of course now some liberal latte sippers would want to prosecute him in court. And that sets a dangerous precedent. Liberals want to treat captured prisoners like humans who should be officially sentenced, when we need a real strategy, like tort-AHEM!AHEM! enhanced interrogation, and disappearances, and secret prisons. Maybe we could call them gulags? And when the world looks back upon our country, the greatness they will see for us so wonderfully defeating terrorism in the enlightened manner of Captain Boehner and the Right WingNut Brigade.

In my previous post, I linked to an interview of Buyer from CBS, but I missed THIS link to an amazing video of him singing in session about smoking lettuce.  There’s also a cameo by Joe Biden. No further words could do this video justice.

Steve Buyer was interviewed recently by CBS regarding a “charity” for college students here in Indiana that was running out of his office.  I’ve never seen someone not accused of a crime sweat and stammer as much as he does in the video. Unless it’s the liberal heat of the lights, and the camera angles, our honorable representative from the fourth district spent several minutes scrambling for answers to every question before leaving in a rush, for a meeting apparently (and conveniently).  He couldn’t even seem to remember who made the original 25k donation, though he did basically scream out the name of those who did (PhRMA) a couple times, to something that is considered HIS charity. Though he did spend a large amount of time explaining how much he worried about a charity being legal. That makes you look good. A charity that alleges to be dedicated to helping Indiana college students with scholarships, yet that has handed out less than 10,000 dollars. In the meantime, the donations come from major drug companies and groups with pending legislation before his committees. Ah, fate, how you do love to have the wheels of coincidence roll through our lives.

Lou Dobbs has left CNN. As mentioned in the NYT article, CNN president Jonathan Klein had the audacity to ask Mr. Dobbs to

vent his opinions on radio and anchor an objective newscast on television, or he could leave CNN.

This is just another glaring example of the Liberal Media railroading a conservative. Asking a “journalist” to anchor news objectively? I mean, if Lou Dobbs, on top of having a nationally syndicated radio show, can’t give voice to the fact that our Honorable President may, or may not, be a Kenyan, or that all Immigrants are evil, who will? Who will give voice to truth? Who will speak for the little man? If a man can’t give creedence on national television news to all ready discredited movements when his own network and other major media sources have given up on it, who will?

But Dobbs has been shown to be a man of integriy. And I’m sure this is about freedom of speech. not about leaving the lowest rated network, and finding new employment. Just because you meet with the head of the #1 network, just as another former CNN talking head did, who now makes millions upon millions the same way, doesn’t mean anything.

News that I missed…

The Buenos Aires Herald reported that the Argentinian Supreme court ruled that marijuana will no longer be treated as a criminal offense for users, stating that

“…it is unconstitutional to punish marijuana consumers, if that action does not harm third parties. The decision would put an end to a long-term debate, in which users had claimed that the incumbent drug law violated privacy rights.”

Surprisingly, this is in accord with their federal government, who held

“The government has backed  the initiative to decriminalize drug consumers, as it would allow the government to focus its policies on drug trafficking networks instead of users. Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández said the decriminalization would allow users “to be treated as addicts instead of criminals.”

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