There is so much to like here: the lyric, the visual imagination, the beat…the fact that you don’t actually see “Weird Al” Yankovic during the performance (not if you blink). Make all your illiterate friends watch and wisen up!
Category Effective Communication
You don’t give Mrs. O’Leary a forum to bad-mouth the firefighters, or let Capt. Hazelwood criticize how they clean up the oil spill
So extreme that they even scare Al Qaeda? OK, you’ve got my attention.
What the hell is The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and how is it able to take over major Iraqi cities apart from the luck of only encountering feeble resistance from American-trained Iraqi government forces? I don’t know, and it’s a little unsettling to read and hear the stories of these religious extremists blowing through city after city summarily executing those who don’t worship properly—as Sunni Muslims—and setting up their own governing authority. The Iraqi government has asked the U.S. for help and our government is thinking it over.
In the meantime, because news networks have lots and lots of air time to fill, the punditocracy has cranked into gear to do what it does best: blow hot air. Well, that’s just fine, I suppose, but…why, why, why, in the wide wide world of sports are they asking the opinions of the men who got us into the quagmire of Iraq in the first place for their opinions on what President Obama should do now?
Thanks Ben Sargent and GoComics.com
Want to read some more—try here and here and here and here and here. But as one might imagine, some of the best remember-what-these-nutballs-said-and-did-and-what-happened-because-of-it recollection has come from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. (click the pic to see what I mean)
Hey, talk show bookers and assignment editors: think, just for a minute, before you make your next move. Looking for a good summary of what happened way back when–here’s one.
The totality of the Bush administration’s failure in Iraq is stunning. It is not simply that they failed to build the liberal democracy they wanted. It’s that they ended up strengthening theocracies they feared.
And it’s not simply that they failed to find the weapons of mass destruction that they worried could one day be passed onto terrorists. It’s that a terrorist organization now controls a territory about the size of Belgium, raising the possibility that America’s invasion and occupation inadvertently trained the fighters and created the vacuum that will lead to al Qaeda’s successor organization.
And all this cost us trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives.
(UPDATE: Yes, I did change the headline once I realized the error…I figure it’s never too late to get it right–PR)
First the good news, then the better news, then the bad news
The good news is this: Congress has reached a budget deal. Yes, the U.S. Congress. And not when facing a deadline. America’s guests have done a thing that is rare in this day—their jobs. Here are the details; I’m most enthused at the idea that enough members showed enough maturity and leadership to actually work out some agreement, one which means we and the world can go two years without having to fret about a government shutdown.
Now to the better news, which I would actually classify as a Christmas miracle if I were given to assuming that God takes sides in American politics (or sports): the mainstream Republican Party is showing signs of finally standing up to the conservative extremists. Speaker of the House John Boehner was the first to publicly, honestly, express his exasperation with the tea partyish crowd that has pushed the GOP so far to the edge of American politics that they have to stand on each other’s shoulders a mile high in order to see the center. He reportedly got even more “honest” in private:
“They are not fighting for conservative principles,” Mr. Boehner told rank-and-file House Republicans during a private meeting on Wednesday as he seethed and questioned the motives of the groups for piling on against the plan before it was even made public.
“They are not fighting for conservative policy,” he continued, according to accounts of those present. “They are fighting to expand their lists, raise more money and grow their organizations, and they are using you to do it. It’s ridiculous.”
The conservatives of course defended themselves, which is perfectly fine; I hope the center and the far right keep this back-and-forth going ad infinitum (we’re already well past ad nauseum). For however long they fight with each other—and these things don’t last as long as you might wish them to—it keeps them from concentrating their fire outside the circle; maybe that keeps the extremists from winning more elections and coming into real power to remake America in their own frightening image.
One more politics thing: did you see who was cited by PolitiFact for the Lie of the Year? Yep, our president. Selected by a reader poll from among ten finalists, “If you like your health plan, you can keep it” was chosen by 59%, the winner going away and embarassingly ahead of popular favorites like “Congress is exempt from the healthcare law” (Ted Cruz), “No U.S.-trained doctors will accept Obamacare” (Ann Coulter) and “Muslims are exempt from Obamacare” (chain email). President Obama’s catchy little reassurance actually worked its way up over the years from “half true” to “pants on fire” and now Lie of the Year. Congratulations, Mr. President, for finding a way to help the self-defeating conservatives survive the circular firing squad.
Hey, I was thinking the same thing…but I can’t draw a face full of hate like that
I am sooo tired of hearing political arguments that are based primarily, if not entirely, on what side of the issue God has taken. Arguments made by people who, apparently, know where God stands on the issues of the day here in America. Are extreme conservatives the only people who are plugged in to God’s position on the issues? Or the only ones who find that argument a persuasive one?
Last month I wrote about the echo of today’s extreme conservative message in the language of long-ago memorials to Confederate war dead. Today, I note that Doonesbury sees some of the same thing, but makes the point better than I did (or could).
I couldn’t be more pleased to be sharing a point of view with a comic strip, or more disheartened about the intellectual quality of modern American political rhetoric.
Thanks to Doonesbury, Slate, and GoComics.com
Just because there’s been another mass shooting is no reason to think that there’s a problem here
Reaction to this morning’s shootings at the Washington Navy Yard are running pretty much as you expect them to: most people are concerned and frightened and interested to know more details, and the cable television news is falling all over itself to bring you the very latest on this BREAKING STORY but generally not helping clear up the confusion that’s only to be expected immediately after an event of this sort. (Wolf Blitzer, I’m talking to you.) The pro-gun/anti-gun rhetoric that’s followed all the recent major shootings is no doubt on its way; this morning from his Twitter account David Frum gave us all a head start:
Let’s just wait and see: I bet Frum’s suggestions are pretty close to what we’ll see and hear in the next few days. It’s sad to think that we’re not capable of any more constructive civic discussion than this…or are we?
Oh, there’s one more thing:
HEY, IT'S PAT RYAN'S BLOG! 