Tuesday, October 28, 2014

THE WORSE, THE BETTER.

What’s Bad for America Is Good for Democrats
I'm beginning to think National Review's Dennis Prager is just toying with us now.
...Even today, after decades of feminism, most Americans agree that it is better for women (and for men) — and better for society — when women (and men) marry. Yet, when women marry, it is bad for the Democratic party; and when women do not marry, even after — or shall we say, especially after — having children, it is quite wonderful for the Democratic party. 
Married women vote Republican. Unmarried women lopsidedly vote Democrat. 
It is both silly and dishonest to deny that it is in the Democrats’ interest that women not marry. 
Which is why we make them wear those ugly Birkenstocks and not shave their legs.

Also, "the more a black American considers America a racist society, the more he or she is a guaranteed Democratic voter," which is why Democrats make such obvious efforts to stir up racial resentment: Prager offers in evidence Ferguson, which only really got out of control when Debbie Wasserman Schultz went down there and started setting trash cans on fire.
The Democratic party cultivates singlehood, black anger at America, Latino separatism, victimhood, group grievance, and dependency on government... 
The Democratic party has been become a wholly destructive force in this country. Even though you may not intend to, if you vote for any Democrat, you contribute to that damage.
I was waiting for him to tell me that doctor in New York purposely spread Ebola to drum up business for the Democrat-medical complex. I think even people who refer contemptuously to wingnut welfare can agree that Prager is one of those poor souls who really couldn't survive without it.

UPDATE. Elsewhere at National Review, Tim Cavanaugh
The Only Ebola Panic Is Being Caused by Doctors and Nurses
The theme of the article, near as I can pick out of the fevered prose, is that the conservative Ebola panic brigade does not exist, it's really elitist public health officials and a New Yorker writer who are trying to spread "Ebola panic among people who didn’t go to college" by saying there's no reason to panic when there really is because look, bowling shoes, but Cavanaugh is totally not trying to panic you, plus Chris Christie's a RINO. Someone should take Cavanaugh's temperature, or at least quarantine him.

UPDATE 2. Mollie Hemingway, having made a similar we're-not-the-panic-you're-the-panic case before, returns with more of the same and worse:
I’m sorry, but if you read the phrase “based on science” and don’t immediately guffaw at the unfounded arrogance and unchecked assumptions of it all, you are probably a typical reporter.
People wonder what happened to the Know Nothing Party -- well, wonder no more! First climate studies, now epidemiology -- wonder what branch of science conservatives will come out against next? (I know, I skipped psychiatry.)

199 comments:

  1. BadExampleMan9:24 AM

    I'm so old, I can remember when Dennis Praeger used to make sense. No, really. I mean, he was still wrong but back when he was a columnist for Moment magazine (kids, ask your parents - they were sort of like, if you took 96 iPads whose swipe functions were all broken, and put them in a stack) he was capable of presenting a coherent, reality-based argument.


    Maybe that's the problem - he only has about 900 words every other month worth of sanity in him.

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  2. Robert M.9:27 AM

    Shorter Dennis Prager: only out-of-touch, liberal eggheads believe the lie about correlation and causation.

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  3. Sin Nickel9:31 AM

    Remember when Prager rent his garments over Kerry dropping f-bombs in a Rolling Stone interview, and then days later Denny twisted himself into pretzel shapes to justify Bush's "salty" language when the mic picked up GWB calling Adam Clymer an asshole?

    Dude totally earned his wingnut welfare that week, too.

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  4. glennisw9:40 AM

    Another idiot who doesn't understand the difference between corelation and causation.

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  5. GeniusLemur9:48 AM

    To recast the observations a bit, people who are disadvantaged and/or persecuted vote Democrat, while people who heavily advantaged by/happy with the current arrangement vote Republican. I wonder why that would be?

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  6. susanoftexas9:51 AM

    Also, afraid people are more likely to vote Republican, which might be why we are being Ebolaed to death.

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  7. Halloween_Jack9:53 AM

    The Democratic party has been become a wholly destructive force in this country.

    Good grief, the Dems took his grammar away. Is there no end to their evil?

    And the rest of his spiel boils down to the anodyne observation that the more that a person identifies with rich white men--and thinks that sucking up to them is the only way to get ahead--the more likely they are to keep them and their courtiers in power. Thus, you have the political movement that, while they style themselves after the Sons of Liberty, work toward restoring the aristocracy. The Tea Party is really the Confederate Party.

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  8. Which is why we make them wear those ugly Birkenstocks and not shave their legs.

    Woohoo!

    http://boingboing.net/images/animalrightsnra.jpg
    ~

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  9. coozledad10:02 AM

    The Democratic party has been become a wholly destructive force in this country.
    So the Democratic party is the international JewPalestinian of liberal fascism?

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  10. glennisw10:13 AM

    First climate studies, now epidemiology -- wonder what branch of science conservatives will come out against next?



    Gravity?

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  11. Mr. Wonderful10:14 AM

    "Even today, after decades of feminism, most Americans agree that it is
    better for women (and for men) — and better for society — when women
    (and men) marry."


    Careful, Den. That knife cuts both ways. "Even today, after decades of Jewish success in this country, most Americans agree that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. It is both silly and dishonest to remain Jewish in the face of this consensus."

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  12. you are probably a typical reporter.

    ah, comforting to see that someone still reads jeff foxworthy.

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  13. susanoftexas10:44 AM

    There is an incredibly long post about Prager on the internet by some racist guy and it quotes Prager's father and discusses what seems like every word Prager has ever said. It is not a surprise to see Prager's parents withheld love and attention, were extremely critical, and hounded him mercilessly to succeed.
    There is a reason conservatives insist that peers, not parents, mold kids and lead them astray; they can't admit what their parents do to them, and they constantly deny that they are driven by their needs and fears.

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  14. It is both silly and dishonest to deny that it is in the Democrats’ interest that women not marry.

    Never mind that married people are a self-selecting group, so "marriage makes you conservative" is every bit as valid as "marriage makes you rich." Prager - like most respectable social cons - never bothers to explain how those evil Dems are stopping or discouraging women from getting married. However, from reading some less respectable wingnut bloggers and some fundamentalist writers (who are usually more straightforward), I've pieced it together. Dems ruin marriage through "welfare," birth control and encouraging women to go to college. There's probably some validity to that - a lot easier to control someone who's broke, pregnant and ign'ant.

    The only thing almost any American has known about Ferguson is that a white police officer shot and killed a black teenager. Yet, while blacks in Ferguson demonstrated, some violently, the reaction of Democrats — both politicians and the mainstream left-wing media — has been to side with the demonstrators.

    Yes, Democrats incited racial animosity by agreeing that an officer who shot an unarmed teenager should be investigated. This might be a good time to assemble a pastiche of everything that's been said on the right about the Michael Brown shooting. Let's see...he was a giant negro and a drug addicted gangbanger with a very long rap sheet - including homicide, for which he was mysteriously never charged - and, in a weed-fueled rampage, he attacked a police cruiser with his mighty negro gorilla arms (more dangerous than any gun), almost destroying the innocent officer's face. Did I miss anything?

    Prager's right - I can't imagine why black Americans don't like these guys.

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  15. The Democratic party cultivates singlehood, black anger at America,
    Latino separatism, victimhood, group grievance, and dependency on
    government.

    And the Republican party cultivates affairs and divorce, white anger at shit they can't even articulate, white separatism, victimhood in hoods, group grievance and dependency on government in such forms as subsidies, tax breaks and free grazing land.

    Conclusion: BOTH SIDES DO IT! (But the Democrats are worse.)

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  16. Ooo, my Constitutional!

    http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=80202

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  17. Paul MacDonald11:04 AM

    Panic in the Dicks, so

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  18. Robert M.11:09 AM

    After all, it's just a theory.

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  19. Mighty Negro gorilla arms = New band name.

    Prager's right - I can't imagine why black Americans don't like these guys.


    Mighty Negro uppityness.

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  20. Halloween_Jack11:19 AM

    Owl With Dynamite will never not be awesome.

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  21. The Only Ebola Panic Is Being Caused by Doctors and NursesCome on, Tim, it's only a very few especially stupid doctors who have been spraying hysterical bullshit in all directions on Fox News. Still, you get some credit for calling out Rand Paul like that.

    I’m sorry,Yes, Mollie, you are.

    but if you read the phrase “based on science” and don’t immediately guffaw at the unfounded arrogance and unchecked assumptions of it all, you are probably a typical reporter.Oh, tell me about it. Throughout college, I kept hearing so-called physicists claim that people can't successfully defy gravity unaided, "based on science." The roof is that way, Mollie.

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  22. I also wasn't aware that a feminists were anti-marriage, but that's probably because I'm so busy not shaving my legs and plotting to destroy all video games.

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  23. Proverbs11:50 AM

    He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.

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  24. M. Krebs12:05 PM

    I don't think I've ever seen a cow quite so angry.

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  25. Needs more Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart!

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  26. M. Krebs12:15 PM

    Shorter Mollie Hemingway: "Don't tell me not to panic! You're not the boss of me!"

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  27. "I know I'm shouting I LIKE to shout!" (Apologies to The English Beat.)

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  28. Paul Comeau12:23 PM

    wow the Lobster is so mad it's already cooked.

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  29. D. Potter12:28 PM

    Oh, I didn't wonder at all what had happened to the Know-Nothings.


    Also, I suspect that Mr. Prager's statistics were drawn from a Homburg.

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  30. I must say, these days when I see someone like Prager--or any wingnut, really, but for whatever reason sometimes it hits harder than others--I have this sort of mini-existential crisis: what are you DOING, man?! You only get ONE life, and yet you are working your ass off to ensure that your legacy--if you have one at all--is of a moral zero who did nothing other than make the country and the world a WORSE place. I mean, we just sort of take these people's horribleness for granted, but when you think about it up close, it's almost too much to bear. What when wrong? Isn't there anything that someone could've done to make them not-awful? But it's too late, most of them will just keep doing what they're doing, and never know that they are among the damned, in the literal sense or otherwise.

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  31. FlipYrWhig12:37 PM

    I think Owl With Dynamite was the logo for the Galleanists. Or should have been, at least.

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  32. Giant Monster Gamera12:39 PM

    Roy, I'm so sorry that you're not doing the Voice column any more, because the derp coming out of the deep thinkers of the right these past week weeks has been just spectacular.

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  33. zencomix12:51 PM

    On the other hand, some epidemiologists, including the reanimated corpse of Robert Novak, have denied epidemiologic closure principles on the basis of Republican accounts of knowledge. Novak, in "Dildo-sophical Explanations", advocated that, when considering the Gingrich Problem,
    the least counter-intuitive assumption we give up should be epidemiologic
    closure. Novak suggested a "truth tracking" theory of knowledge, in
    which the x was said to know P if x's belief in P tracked the truth of P
    through the relevant Fox Media Scenarios.

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  34. "B-but ... we've studied this subject extensively," the effeminate liberal in the lab coat protested weakly. "We've conducted experiments. It's based on science---"



    "HAW! HAW! HAW!" guffawed the dauntless conservative journalist, jingling the charm bracelets necessary for her computer to function.

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  35. Jay B.1:00 PM

    #RazorGate

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  36. Gromet1:02 PM

    they constantly deny that they are driven by their needs and fears

    This is a really interesting point. I've had a lot of heart-to-heart discussions with my Democratic, Communist, We're The Real Racist friends, that go in a direction of painful self-examination. "Yeah, I believe this, but why? What need is it satisfying and why do I feel that need?" It is not every Democrat's thought process, but it is not uncommon among my subset; it tends to be my process. But I've never had a conversation with a conservative that went in this direction. Instead, they are more caught up in "What is correct to believe, and why?" The closest I've gotten, I think, is the guy who admitted he thought religion was bunk but still very important because people need it to provide order. He did not, however, have a good answer when I asked to what extent did he think his own ordered life was contingent on his religion; what troubling ideas or needs did he feel that made him glad he had religion as a sort of quelling force? His answer to that immediately turned outward -- it wasn't so much him or me -- thinking people -- it was people who can't think for themselves: the world would collapse if they didn't have religion. So I said Well that still leaves the question what about you? Why do you think you have so little faith in the ability of other people to act in their own self-interest? And he said, Oh just look at the news, there's riots, there's crime… So we ended up way out there, everything externalized, in a quasi-racisty kind of place.


    I'm cautious about making that one guy represent all conservative thought, but so far (confirmation bias in full effect no doubt) I've found tons of anecdotal reinforcement and no real reversals.

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  37. New from Electronic Arts: Fem. Control the title character as she avoids leg razors, marriage, and brilliant conservative arguments while kicking white dudes who are just minding their own business, then taking their money. Hemmed in by a crowd of righteously indignant MRAs? Spend accumulated womana points to create illusionary sexual harrasment complaints. Use the crafting system to upgrade your castration tools in time for the final boss fight with the Ultimate Twitter Hashtag.

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  38. Jay B.1:06 PM

    It is both silly and dishonest to deny that it is in the Democrats’ interest that women not marry.

    Which is just more proof the Democrats are bought and sold by Big Convent.

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  39. ohsopolite1:28 PM

    I, for one, DID NOT need to know Dennis's pet name for his posterior.

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  40. redoubtagain1:32 PM

    "WhoooooBOOOOOM!"

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  41. Then again, quite a few years back I had an old TV with a sonic remote control, and, when I jingled my key ring, it made the exact sound necessary to change the channel.

    Which has nothing to do with that, but I always wanted to tell that story.

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  42. Gromet1:32 PM

    And so Mollie Hemingway set sail in her ship, HMS Immediate Guffaw, calming her crew by assuring them they would not sail anywhere near the edge of the world. "Hark ye, brave souls! Fear not, for your captain agrees it would be unfounded arrogance to try 'circumnavigation' of what is clearly a flat Earth. Plus expensive and job-killing! So together we shall brave the familiar, and bellow mightily at all that is new and 'complex,' for we know in our hearts that truth is simple and requires no sacrifice!" Then they raised the Jolly Roger Angry Moron and I dunno, some kinda poopdeck joke I guess.

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  43. We named ours our hornstrumpot, shitr.

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  44. ohsopolite1:34 PM

    Certainly would have added an interesting twist to the work of J.K. Rowling...

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  45. redoubtagain1:35 PM

    The only "branch" of science they come out for is ballistics.

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  46. He that worketh with Jonah shall hear the breaking of the wind.

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  47. ohsopolite1:37 PM

    Or worse, inherit it.

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  48. I would so like to boot up this comment in my Xbox.

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  49. Relevant:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQMbXvn2RNI

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  50. redoubtagain1:43 PM

    Married women vote Republican
    If I forward this mango to my wife, who has never voted Republican, and ask her to think of all her married friends who also have never voted Republican, I wonder how long it will take us to clean up the side she'll split from laughing.

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  51. For fuck's sake, Mollie:

    Caroline Gorman at Thoughts on Liberty wrote up her civil liberty concerns regarding quarantines a few weeks ago. She noted how expansive laws permitting involuntary quarantine are and how quickly they can be used against marginalized groups. She said she worried about how public health threats can become yet another “permanent stage of emergency” that governments use to expand the administrative state.


    What, neither of you two could come up with something about gun grabbing? One wonders if Hemingway or Gorman would have been half as "concerned" if Kari Wilcox had been a blah.

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  52. I smell an indie breakout classic...
    Also, upvotes for "womana."

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  53. Spaghetti Lee2:09 PM

    Mollie Hemmingway is a Jack Chick character? Yup, that checks out.

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  54. Matt Jones2:11 PM

    Prager may have given the game away - some analysis on his headline:

    What’s Bad for America Is Good for Democrats

    so
    What's Good for America Is Bad for Republicans


    Yep, sounds about right. Also neatly explains the last three decades of GOP monkeywrenching...

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  55. Matt Jones2:15 PM

    I never understood why the "marriage makes you rich" crowd didn't just run the ball all the way to "marriage will turn you white". Both conclusions are equally valid based on the data... :)

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  56. Spaghetti Lee2:16 PM

    I think Hemingway has conflated "scientists" with "Randall Munroe" and then failed to realize that he is, more often than not, making a joke.

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  57. So when my doctor advises me to take insulin for my diabetes instead of, say, sacrificing a toad to a local godling i should sneer "check your privilige and your unfounded arrogance?"

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  58. Jay B.2:19 PM

    Yes. Then blind him with Gaia.

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  59. John Wesley Hardin2:22 PM

    On the frickin' nose.

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  60. John Wesley Hardin2:24 PM

    That's why they* call it 'conventional' wisdom.


    (*nobody calls it that)

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  61. Spaghetti Lee2:24 PM

    Also, please note that in Pragerland, victimhood and "group grievance" are sight unseen destructive, without even having to learn what they're victims of or grieving about.



    Yes, there is some anger in certain left-wing voting blocs. Consider the arrogance it takes to notice that such large numbers of people dislike and distrust you so deeply, and assume that anger has no source beyond the opposition party stirring it up for no reason.

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  62. There's a great old-style Saturday Night Live type commercial to be had from that comment.

    Stereotypically offensive black couple (groom is carrying a bucket of KFC) gets married; as soon as they both say "I do" there's a *PING* and both turn into white Yuppies.

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  63. Another Kiwi2:42 PM

    My fave Prager column was back in 06, when we wore onions on our belts, and Dennis was being all smug and self congratulatory about how he kept himself from shagging everything that moved. I had to get the industrial strength brain washing fluid for that episode.

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  64. Another Kiwi2:44 PM

    I hope that you are doing that in a journalistically ethical manner

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  65. Another Kiwi2:46 PM

    Because Daddy men know best, silly!

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  66. susanoftexas2:48 PM

    Especially morning mail call.

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  67. Indeed. She could be that witch from the D&D tract, convincing impressionable youth that black magic is real ... and responsible for polio vaccine and the internal combustion engine.


    (That, or she's a Juggalo, staring skeptically at an electromagnetism textbook.)

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  68. I would like to go belowdecks and work this comment's pump.

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  69. JennOfArk3:05 PM

    Well, I know that I personally would have married - probably several times - if it hadn't been for the Democrats convincing me that it was in their best interest for me to remain single.

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  70. Wait, what? This is in the context of attacking scientific experts, virtually all of whom oppose involuntary quarantines and travel bans? You obviously haven't been keeping up with current events, Mollie, but it seems to be the leadership of the Party of Liberty that's been shrieking that we're all gonna die because of Obama's low-key science-based approach to Ebola.


    Now, if you want to declare Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo in particular to be ignorant, authoritarian, bullying right-wing shitbags, feel free to line up over there, behind all those liberals.

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  71. JennOfArk3:09 PM

    That's one pissed off chicken!

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  72. Upvoting the upvote for womana.

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  73. He who smelteth it dealteth it. But he who heareth it feareth it.

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  74. I do wish they'd elaborate on the causation supposedly giving rise to that correlation:

    "Single women tend to vote Democratic, out of selfishness. Once they get married, they start voting the way their husbands tell them to, as God intended."


    In fact, I'd chip in a few bucks to help them run that commercial.

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  75. susanoftexas3:18 PM

    Evidently Prager's father was strangely frank about sex, and Prager grew up with some odd notions regarding women, which might explain the three wives. Although almost anything about Prager would explain that as well.

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  76. Chairman Pao3:25 PM

    'If you read a Dennis Prager/Tim Cavanaugh/Mollie Hemingway article and don’t immediately guffaw at the unfounded arrogance and unchecked assumptions of it all, then you are probably a…uh…oh, well...you are probably a typical Dennis Prager/Tim Cavanaugh/Mollie Hemingway reader."



    Carry on, then.

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  77. susanoftexas3:26 PM

    I see some liberals assume that we should work for our leader's goals instead of realizing that we need to find someone to work for us, but nothing like what I see with authoritarian conservatives.
    When you pin them down they usually end up revealing that they are afraid and want a strong father who will protect them and they are lonely and feel bad about themselves, and want a devoted, self-effacing mother to give them unlimited love without asking for anything in return.
    Gamergate is the a bunch of unloved Lost Boys who banded together for survival and told themselves that the girls who unreasonably refused to love them were Captain Hook--and mermaids were everywhere for the taking.

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  78. satch3:27 PM

    Last night, Chris Matthews actually said something to this specific point: "Fear drives people to the Right". Hence, you have Obama suggesting that we should look to the science behind ebola precautions, while the Blake Farentholds of the Congress get their knowledge from zombie movies. Obama describes ISIS as predominantly a regional problem, while Lindsey Graham wails that "They'll come here and kill us all." And the economic royalists of the NatRev comment sections suggest that workers who fear for their jobs should be even nicer and more respectful to their employers. Fear is not only the conservative default position, it's their main marketing tool.

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  79. (That, or she's a Juggalo, staring skeptically at an electromagnetism textbook.)

    HAW! HAW! How the fuck does this work? HAW!

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  80. susanoftexas3:31 PM

    Laughter defeats fear, and boy do they hate the way we laugh at them.

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  81. LookWhosInTheFreezer3:32 PM

    Hopefully someone can dig up some cheat codes for the sperm-jack-the-guy-in-the-fedora level.

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  82. Crazy stupid science, saying we need to breathe oxygen.

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  83. susanoftexas3:34 PM

    Married women want access to birth control too, but evidently conservative married couples don't have to worry a great deal about sexual activity in marriage.

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  84. Chairman Pao3:47 PM

    '...others in the rest of the country point at her and say, “Wait, she was the one who passed over the Ebola drug that works to give money to a now-bankrupt firm owned by a big Obama donor, right?”'


    If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone ask this very question, I'd owe a dollar.

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  85. I tried to diagram this comment, but I ran out of blackboard.

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  86. LookWhosInTheFreezer3:50 PM

    And Austrian Economics...though I guess that's more of a religion, in practice.

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  87. All you need to cure ebola is some cinnamon sticks and colloidal silver. Everyone knows that!

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  88. Sneering's all right, but an immediate guffaw is the proper response.

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  89. BG, still irked3:56 PM

    ...Even today, after decades of feminism, most Americans agree that it is better for women (and for men) — and better for society — when women (and men) marry.



    And his evidence for that is --- what, exactly? Because I don't remember anyone asking me ...


    But I gather this means he is cool with gay marriage.


    /snark

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  90. Derelict3:57 PM

    Hmmmmmmm...This story has a certain ring to it. I think the sound is key.

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  91. Another Kiwi3:58 PM

    I'd put the accordion music up there.

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  92. Chairman Pao4:00 PM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kldHXD2z4jA

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  93. Derelict4:01 PM

    I guess what the atypical reporter should do is reply, "Well, you have experiments, and data, and rock-solid proof that ebola cannot be transmitted via mind rays. But my sister's friend's cousin's brother said he heard his boss talking to someone on the phone, and they said it could be transmitted by mind rays. So where's the truth, Mr. Smarty-pants scientist?"

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  94. Gromet4:03 PM

    The strong father urge gobsmacks me. It is the basis of so much -- reading conservopundits, seems about 75% of their analysis of foreign policy is simply "Do we look intimidating enough?"* The mother idea is interesting -- huh. Yeah, that would explain some things…


    The Gamergate phenomenon is disturbing. I wish I knew a gamergater so I could talk to him but yeah, your description sounds about right. Seems like there's a lot of crazed-angry solo boys out there, and that's not gonna improve until civilization accepts sex android marriage (Frothy Mix warned us it was a slippery slope -- but he had no idea!).


    (*Really that question should be "Do I believe we look intimidating enough and why do I believe that?" Which might lead to bigger questions like why do you trust Reagan is still tough when he pulls out of Beirut but Clinton is a disaster when he pulls out of Somalia? What about Reagan communicates to you (not to terrorists) that he is badass, and what about Clinton communicates feckless? Likely whatever terrorist in whatever hellhole is not picking up the same cultural cues you are -- so what are these guys saying to you, and how, and why is that so important to you that you literally have no interest in actually talking about the effect on others that you claim is your main concern?)

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  95. Gromet4:06 PM

    "The truth lies in the middle. I will present both sides and let audiences decide." -- Contemporary Responsible Journalism

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  96. That ain't no cow, that's a bull! Or a steer, which might make him plenty angry.

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  97. satch4:28 PM

    Laughter was Alinsky's main tool of oppression!

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  98. Friends had a tee vee that did that when you rattled chains.
    I think the remote had tuned pieces of metal in it that sent the right sound when hit like a piano string.

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  99. satch4:32 PM

    Jiggling charm bracelets? The usual method used by conservatives to deal with balky delicate electronic equipment is to whack it with a board.

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  100. Nope, just outside of the sacred & holy institution..

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  101. No, no, you're confusing " balky delicate electronic equipment" with "protesters against a rush to war under false pretenses."

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  102. Freddie DeB. weighs in on "The Left":
    Unfortunately, I don’t know how we build a new left discourse, given that the two current modes of left-wing expression appear to be a) showily condescending ridicule and b) utter fury.

    Considering that "discourse" w/ reactionary elements is beyond impossible due to their misapprehension of reality, I'm just as stumped.

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  103. satch4:48 PM

    Shorter Freddie:

    "Look, just agree with me and shut up, OK?"

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  104. I'd like to chime in and say it resonates with me, too

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  105. I'm a feminist and I'm married but since I don't practice bigamy or polyandry I could only get married the one time. I guess I'm part of the problem, not part of the solution.

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  106. Another Kiwi5:01 PM

    OMG OMG I found it! it's from 2008. Here it is Dennis in all his glory

    2. If this is true, men really are animals.

    Correct. Compared
    to most women's sexual nature, men's sexual nature is far closer to that
    of animals. So what? That is the way he is made. Blame God and nature.
    Telling your husband to control it is a fine idea. But he already does.
    Every man who is sexually faithful to his wife already engages in daily
    heroic self-control
    . He has married knowing he will have to deny his
    sexual natures desire for variety for the rest of his life. To ask that
    he also regularly deny himself sex with the one woman in the world with
    whom he is permitted sex is asking far too much. Deny him enough times
    and he may try to fill this need with another woman. If he is too moral
    to ever do that, he will match your sexual withdrawal with emotional and
    other forms of withdrawal.

    I think that "Heroic Self Control" means duct tape.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Oooo:
    From Prager's own memorial, such as it was:

    4. What is more important than closeness.(sic)

    My father loved my mother. He loved her more than anyone or anything in life. They were married for 69 years, together for 73. Growing up, my brother and I were largely emotional afterthoughts in my father’s life. Emotionally speaking, we were tenants in our parents’ house. That is why, as I said above, it was a blessing that our parents lived so long. They had all those years to express more love.

    But I had something in my father more important than emotional closeness. I had a strong ethical/moral model. I have always worn an invisible but powerful bracelet with the letters: WWDD. What Would Dad Do?

    The ideal for a son is to have an emotional bond with his father who is also a strong ethical model. But, if you can only have one, the latter is more important than the former.



    Speaking as someone whose parents have been together since they were nine, some 75 years (married 60 or 62 years I think) this is pathetic. Strong love between parents is great but it has fuck all to do with intimacy and love between a parent and a child. "tenants in our parent's house?" what a horrible thing to feel and to say.

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  108. JennOfArk5:06 PM

    If surveys are to be believed, that's essentially their entire case against liberal ideas. Those they agree with; it's us laughing at them for supporting the opposite that they can't take.

    ReplyDelete
  109. I think its a variant on the thing that Atheists have been pointing out for a while: Evangelical Christians explicitly tell you that praying to God will get you absolutely everything except the regrowth of an amputated limb. Why can god cure leprosy and AIDS and cancer but not grow your leg back? Its a question which never gets answered because it makes believers so uncomfortable. But the same logic applies to "marriage makes you...[the same thing as a high percentage of married people]." Logically if getting married put you into the majority of married people it would make you richer, healthier, whiter, and older.

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  110. In Conclusion: Women should lock up their men in chastity belts.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Pope Zebbidie XIII5:11 PM

    he attacked a police cruiser with his mighty negro gorilla arms


    Backwards and from 15 feet away. Beat that Ginger Rogers.

    ReplyDelete
  112. Another Kiwi5:13 PM

    I think not locked, but welded.

    ReplyDelete
  113. Bitter Scribe5:13 PM

    It's like George Bernard Shaw's observation that at Lourdes, among the displays of no-longer-needed braces, crutches and wheelchairs, you never see any artificial limbs, glass eyes or toupees.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Maybe I was thinking of Shaw? I'm sure I've seen the issue discussed at Pharyngula and at Slacktivist but if anyone got there first it would be Shaw!

    ReplyDelete
  115. JennOfArk5:21 PM

    Paging Glenn Beck...

    ReplyDelete
  116. Derelict5:22 PM

    The answer is obvious: Non-contained quarantines wherein people are allowed to come and go as they please, but then something something and ponies!

    ReplyDelete
  117. Derelict5:25 PM

    That's not his posterior--it's his asshat.

    ReplyDelete
  118. JennOfArk5:26 PM

    I would like to waltz in the arms of this comment.

    ReplyDelete
  119. KatWillow5:42 PM

    "Beat that Ginger Rogers!"



    "Beat that, Ginger Rogers!"

    ReplyDelete
  120. zencomix5:43 PM

    I copied and pasted a paragraph from Wikipedia on "epistemic closure", and diagrammed it on Phineas J Whoopee's 3DBB, secretly replacing keywords with Sanka Brand decaf flavor crystals.

    ReplyDelete
  121. KatWillow5:48 PM

    If only we could laugh them out of office, and off the TV. I'd like to laugh Murdoch & Ailes ("The Mummy & Jabba-the-Hut") down to the bottom of the Marianas Trench, sans bathyscape.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Glock H. Palin, Esq.6:01 PM

    There's a great old-style Saturday Night Live Chapelle's Show type commercial to be had from that comment.

    ReplyDelete
  123. susanoftexas6:02 PM

    Prager is so certain marriage is vital that he married three times.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Glock H. Palin, Esq.6:05 PM

    That's not even a joke. That's seriously an accusation I've seen leveled against people ridiculing republican positions: "you're just engaging in Allinski tactics!"

    ReplyDelete
  125. smut clyde6:06 PM

    Unmarried women lopsidedly vote Democrat.

    Unmarried women are hunchbacks?

    ReplyDelete
  126. smut clyde6:08 PM

    But Fear is the Mindkiller. Who could possibly benefit from stupidity?

    ReplyDelete
  127. susanoftexas6:09 PM

    Reading between the lines and directly on them as well, it's clear his mother had no interest in raising him. He had to depend on the maid for attention. He acted out in school because he was frantic to rebel but did not dare at home. His older brother was perfect and he was compared to him constantly.
    It's a mess and all too typical of authoritarian parenting. How many right-wing nuts out there would have been fine if they were shown the smallest amount of love and care?

    ReplyDelete
  128. susanoftexas6:11 PM

    They lean, due to all the condoms and feminist tracts in their purses.

    ReplyDelete
  129. Another Kiwi6:11 PM

    maybe it's just a temporary thing at the ballot box

    ReplyDelete
  130. Glock H. Palin, Esq.6:12 PM

    Cry havoc, and let slip the lobsters of war!

    ReplyDelete
  131. smut clyde6:12 PM

    That's just your hunch.

    ReplyDelete
  132. smut clyde6:14 PM

    Or if you're in a shoe-throwing mood, lob the slippers of war.

    ReplyDelete
  133. Another Kiwi6:15 PM

    The quasi-modality of hunches.

    ReplyDelete
  134. mortimer20006:22 PM

    Deny him enough times and he may try to fill this need with another woman. If he is too moral to ever do that, he will match your sexual withdrawal with emotional and other forms of withdrawal.

    Like what? Premature? Savings Account? Heroin? Nicotine? Early 401K? Automatic? Troop? Academic?

    I mean, sexual withdrawal is bad enough, what with the lack of procreation and all, but jeez.

    ReplyDelete
  135. The Harkonnens?

    ReplyDelete
  136. coozledad6:37 PM

    Gamergate libel!

    ReplyDelete
  137. coozledad6:50 PM

    his sexual natures desire for variety ...
    So why does Dennis keep fucking that same old chicken?

    ReplyDelete
  138. Another Kiwi6:52 PM

    Look, it's a slow moving easy layer.

    ReplyDelete
  139. coozledad6:57 PM

    Given their desire for variety, some men will appreciate the touch of cold wrought iron.

    ReplyDelete
  140. But not the Elves, I take it.

    ReplyDelete
  141. mommadillo7:24 PM

    Married women vote Republican



    Or at least they allow their husbands to think they're voting Republican.


    My late mother, a life-long Republican, was really hoping she'd live long enough to vote for Hillary Clinton for President. She didn't make it, (she died in 2004, on the morning of her 58th wedding anniversary) but I'm planning on dedicating my vote in 2016 to her memory.

    ReplyDelete
  142. Chairman Pao7:25 PM

    Down-voted because I'm stilling derping on hitting that up-vote button.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Glock H. Palin, Esq.7:27 PM

    Rootless Mecca-politans?

    ReplyDelete
  144. Or Anatole France:

    "What, what, no wooden legs???"

    --Anatoly French, commenting on Lourdes[2]

    "All those canes, braces and crutches, and not a single glass eye, wooden leg or toupée."

    --George Bernard Shaw, commenting on Lourdes

    ReplyDelete
  145. I just spent hours over on Alternet arguing with a Ron Paul follower. Little shit ignored all the facts that I brought up about his idol and just patronized me with his free-market blather.

    I fucking hate Libertarians, I really do. If we're in "utter fury" mode it's because the other side is busy being Not Even Wrong. How do you have reasonable discourse with one person who thinks 2+2=5 (and even has invented new bullshit math to "prove" it) and another asserts 2+2=fish?

    ReplyDelete
  146. These comments are pure metal \m/ \m/.

    ReplyDelete
  147. I think you need a ten-dimensional blackboard.

    ReplyDelete
  148. It'd be even better to work out a way to get them down there intact just long enough to hear them say "Hey, there's magnesium down here!" before their skulls imploded.

    ReplyDelete
  149. smut clyde8:06 PM

    They were married for 69 years, together for 73.
    So Prager's parents were shacking up together for four years before they got around to marrying? But in their case it was more proof of the deepness of their love?

    ReplyDelete
  150. susanoftexas8:10 PM

    showily condescending ridicule
    Can I be the person to tell Freddie that it's not a liberal trait, it's just what he brings out in people?

    ReplyDelete
  151. ADHDJ8:12 PM

    "I don’t know how we build a new left discourse, given that the two current modes of left-wing expression appear to be a) not making me a sandwich and b) refusing to have sex with me."

    ReplyDelete
  152. smut clyde8:12 PM

    It's a mess and all too typical of authoritarian parenting
    That is only if you believe Prager's account, and do you really trust him to deliver an honest, projection-free description? Seems to me that he's writing about how he sees the ideal relationship (as opposed to the trail of smoking marital ruins he has left in his own wake), along with ideal parenting, and he is not going to be constrained by petty concerns of how his parents actually behaved.
    It is tempting to run his description through the filter of the Adult-Attachment-Interview narrative analysis, but not tempting enough. First I have to wash the cat.

    ReplyDelete
  153. sigyn8:20 PM

    Sadly, No, covered a few of Prager's odd notions back in the day, but I've never had much luck searching the website.

    ReplyDelete
  154. ken_lov8:25 PM

    "First climate studies, now epidemiology ..."


    You forgot history. Academic historians spend entire careers carefully researching the past but conservatives have no time for all that. History is whatever fits neatly into the narrative du jour.

    ReplyDelete
  155. tigrismus8:34 PM

    Hmm, sounds like AK has some odd notions about sex, too...

    ReplyDelete
  156. Another Kiwi8:36 PM

    Hey I will not hear such calumny about the squeezebox!

    ReplyDelete
  157. Wait - so he's willing to admit that we live in a "deeply sexist culture", therefore biased culturally towards accepting the accusations of DiaperGate, but the fact that they've been so "successful" (one could argue that) is that they've co-opted the rhetoric of oppression (always an effective one!) and it's the left's fault for being so sensitive and picky?

    ReplyDelete
  158. Well, could have been the same situation as my parents--met when they were nine, dating from their teenage years, married in college.

    ReplyDelete
  159. I'd like to dance all night with this comment.

    ReplyDelete
  160. when you rattled chains.

    Oh my. /Takei

    ReplyDelete
  161. tigrismus9:33 PM

    Oh look at who's bringing the UTTER FURY.

    ReplyDelete
  162. And if you're in a rock throwing mood, heave the rock lobsters of war. (Dooo waah!)

    ReplyDelete
  163. tigrismus9:35 PM

    Vitamin C. Google it!

    ReplyDelete
  164. I’m sorry, but if you read the phrase “based on science” and
    don’t immediately guffaw at the unfounded arrogance and unchecked
    assumptions of it all, you are probably a typical reporter.

    But if you read the phrase "it's God's will," and don't immediately guffaw at the unfounded arrogance and unchecked assumptions of it all, but instead write a check to the slick article in the $3K suit who claims he knows God's will, you are certainly a typical neo-conservative.

    ReplyDelete
  165. davdoodles9:44 PM

    "Even today, after decades of feminism, most Americans agree that
    it is better for women (and for men) — and better for society — when women (and
    men) marry... Married women vote Republican. Unmarried women
    lopsidedly vote Democrat."



    Resolving ‘married women=better’, plus ‘married
    woman=republican votebot’
    provides unimpeachable proof that
    ‘republican=better’. Suck on that, hippies!



    But the astute Prager must have realized that all you ‘lopsided’ single
    slatterns who don’t ‘agree’ that he knows what’s best for you need his impeccable logic sugar-clothed in yet
    another creepy/rapey shart of conservative voter-outreach, delivered with all
    the natural charm of Sheldon Cooper attempting bonhomie.
    .

    ReplyDelete
  166. Meanie-meanie, tickle a person9:47 PM

    People wonder what happened to the Know Nothing Party -- well, wonder no more!

    No shit. I predict (again) that sooner, rather than later, the Republican "Hey, I'm no scientist..." dodge will morph into the proudly ignorant "I ain't no goddam scientist!" shouted to thunderous applause on the stump. I wonder how hard the Republican Nomenklatura will try to keep it out of the '16 Convention...

    ReplyDelete
  167. coozledad10:30 PM

    "Showily condescending ridicule" describes every brush these fucks have with the public. They need a safe space where they can evaluate their clothing.

    ReplyDelete
  168. Tehanu11:00 PM

    God, these people make me furious. "Compared to most women's sexual nature"? I've got news for Dennis. Most women's sexual nature is just like most men's sexual nature. We like it, we want it, we do lots of things to get it. The differences are mostly imposed culturally. It seems only too clear to me that Dennis has never actually had an honest conversation with a woman about sex, or any other emotional issue, in his life. If he weren't such a douche, I'd feel sorry for him, but as it is I think he deserves all the misery he's got.

    ReplyDelete
  169. susanoftexas11:49 PM

    Heh, that's true. I read both accounts, such as they were, and the difference between the two was illuminating. They both pride themselves on facts and logic but their interpretations of the facts were... interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  170. susanoftexas11:51 PM

    Didn't he once go on about the flaws in liberal women including, for instance, their lack of dating him?

    ReplyDelete
  171. susanoftexas12:15 AM

    It's interesting that they usually say "do we look?" instead of "are we?" They live on the surface in public.
    Take someone like Prager. His mother was cold, critical and distant. If your parent treats you badly you will be angry and resentful, especially if everyone is insisting how much they all love and respect each other, and are very devout. But you still want your mother's love and that need never, ever goes away, no matter how long you both live.
    You will never be able to go back in time and get the love a child needs to be a healthy adult so you spend your life chasing (emotionally distant?) women, feeling deep inside that if you win her love that emptiness inside will be filled. Hilarity ensues.

    ReplyDelete
  172. DocAmazing12:18 AM

    Would he rather vote "nun of the above"?

    ReplyDelete
  173. Gabriel Ratchet1:19 AM

    But realistically there's no reason for her or any other Republican to panic. So far the people in this country who've contracted Ebola -- emergency room nurses, Doctors Without Borders volunteers -- did so while helping the unfortunate. How would they ever have a chance to catch it?

    ReplyDelete
  174. AngryWarthogBreath1:27 AM

    "Uh-oh, Weasley's for it," Dean Jordan guffawed, looking up at the circling owls in morning mail call.


    "Oh, Ron," Hermione said, because no matter how brilliant and awesome she is she can't quite escape the Nurturing Disappointed Mother-Figure caricature of girls in boys' adventure books. "You didn't get another Howler, did you?"


    "Think it might honestly be a bit more serious than that, Hermione," Harry suggested, as Pigwidgeon struggled his way down to the table with the hefty red sticks under his claws.


    Ron was very slowly going very white indeed.


    "Oh," Hermione said. "Well, are you going to help me turn this table over for a blast shield?"


    "Gryffindors do not go into cover."


    * * *


    Later, having taken a tour of the blast site, Rita Skeeter felt a rush of journalistic ecstasy as she set her quill to parchment and wrote down the headline for The Boy Who Lived (For A While).

    ReplyDelete
  175. Well, sure, religionists are narcissistic simpletons with a child's limited awareness, manipulated by mommy/daddy reward/punishment systems. (As distinguished from spirituality, which I feel to be a defining characteristic of human development and worthy of serious consideration.)

    How many disasters have you read about killing dozens or even hundreds, while a survivor ignorantly declares through their tears that "GAWD had blessed/spared/saved them from death and dismemberment"?

    Not a glimpse of awareness of the implications of their belief that their god singled them out while fucking over the men, women, and children who got burned alive, drowned, or gobbled up by the tornado or whatever. Also, too, no explanation of why Going To Heaven to Live with the Baby Jebus, is something they are so fucking frightened of.

    You know the old saying "there are no atheists in foxholes?" I've always felt that saying is exactly backwards--it should be "there are ONLY atheists in foxholes." When one is facing imminent death, and is terrified and begins praying to GAWD to "save them from being murdered by the folks they are trying to murder first," doesn't that signify that that person really doesn't believe in a Heavenly Afterlife? That person obviously is hoping desperately that there is a god, but doesn't really believe it, or they'd be calm (maybe even relieved) that they'll soon be shuffling off this fucking mortal coil their psycho gawd felt compelled to make them suffer through.

    Those who claim to be religious, but are still afraid of death, are faking it.

    People who genuinely believe in the teachings of most major religions would not be afraid of passing to the next phase of existence, IMHO.

    ReplyDelete
  176. Geo X7:13 AM

    You never did the Kenosha kid!

    ReplyDelete
  177. That said, I also take the word of religionists that they are uncontrollable sinners who would be much worse than they are now (with the father-raping and whatnot), if they weren't afraid of gawd barbecuing their tender bits in hell. So, I suppose I should be grateful there is something to keep them toeing the line most of the time.

    ReplyDelete
  178. One could hold to the liberal "theory" of "electromagnetism," and "hypothesize" like a pansy that the flow of "electrons" has been interrupted when the light switch doesn't make light, do some faggy "troubleshooting," maybe test the light bulb to see if it needs "replacing," but either way rely on government "scientists" to tell you what to do...


    or


    One could do the manly independent thing and sit in the dark waiting for god or the military to make it Not Dark.


    Your Choice America!

    ReplyDelete
  179. Geo X7:41 AM

    Who told you you needed oxygen, huh? Some loser who was trying to make you feel small!

    ReplyDelete
  180. Pope Zebbidie XIII7:59 AM

    He could always just pullet.

    ReplyDelete
  181. Pope Zebbidie XIII8:06 AM

    Oxygen is so horribly corrosive, that it causes sodium metal to burst into flames at room temperature. Do you want that stuff inside you? Your children? Why take the risk?

    ReplyDelete
  182. Pope Zebbidie XIII8:10 AM

    "When your libertarian nation comes to be, You will be crushed by those who are much smarter, tougher and more vicious than you. Why on earth do you want to throw yourself into the gears of the machine?"

    ReplyDelete
  183. Pope Zebbidie XIII8:13 AM

    You can also catch it while attempting to steal their wallets.

    ReplyDelete
  184. Pope Zebbidie XIII8:16 AM

    And still the engineers will vote for them.

    ReplyDelete
  185. IYKWIMAITYD.

    ReplyDelete
  186. Well, in fairness, I'd probably be considered a liberal, and "showily condescending ridicule" is pretty much all I've got. That and profanity.

    ReplyDelete
  187. Hugo now!

    ReplyDelete
  188. Well, my comments over at the NetRev (see above) have brought out "showily condescending ridicule" from the denizens of the comments section. Not much actual fact though...

    ReplyDelete
  189. Q: How many Real Men does it take to change a light bulb?


    A: None. Real Men aren't afraid of the dark!

    ReplyDelete
  190. A quick visualization: Replacing the Jolly Roger with the flag of the Angry Moron...

    ReplyDelete
  191. gocart mozart11:01 AM

    Q. Where do most scientists work?
    A. Universities.
    Q. Who controls the universities?
    A. Marxist professors and liberal elites (but I repeat myself)
    CONCLUSION: Jesus didn't need to listen to no science, if scientific illiteracy was good enough for Jesus, it's damn well good enough for Murka!

    ReplyDelete
  192. BigHank5311:49 AM

    I myself have wondered why people who are nominally Christians go to such pains to prolong people's lives, like prescribing futile chemo treatments for terminal cancer patients. Why not just get 'em square with God and make sure the morphine supply doesn't run low? One might almost think they were a lot less certain about that whole Heaven deal than they claim.

    I know there are two arguments against this. The good one is that once we let doctors start picking and choosing who gets the full-court healing press and who just gets the morphine our health-care system will inevitably become biased in favor of those person with money, i.e. those whiter, maler, and older. But that's the system we already have, in case nobody's been paying attention.

    The horrible argument against palliative care is that God put us here to suffer, and suffer we must. Now, I don't care if you feel the need to mortify the flesh; I only ask that you draw the curtains before you get down to it 'cause I don't wanna watch. But it's a very, very short step from believing that there is virtue in enduring your suffering to believing that there is virtue in other people enduring their suffering. And that's just masochism with a crucifix sticker.

    ReplyDelete
  193. BigHank5312:27 PM

    Libertarians are wannabe aristocrats who think money can be substituted for heredity. The fact that they can't see the gaping hole in this argument tells you everything you need to know.

    ReplyDelete
  194. Another Kiwi2:06 PM

    Remember, volcanologist-in-chief Bobby Jindal? He don't need no fancy schmancy science.

    ReplyDelete
  195. Another Kiwi2:38 PM

    Thus the item on the radio news this morning, "Wellington Suburb Shaken by Unearthly Howling".

    ReplyDelete
  196. billcinsd2:58 PM

    I thought whacking it when they were bored was more their method of asexual reproduction

    ReplyDelete
  197. People wonder what happened to the Know Nothing Party -- well, wonder no more! First climate studies, now epidemiology -- wonder what branch of science conservatives will come out against next? (I know, I skipped psychiatry.)

    Of course it would be crazy, but I'm going to guess Evolution.

    ReplyDelete