The Hollandaise of Irony

"I think abstinence is... not realistic at all." - Bristol Palin, unwed teen mother and daughter of would-be vice-president and abstinence-only education advocate Sarah Palin. Speaking on FOX News! I could not have made up a thicker, richer, and more buttery ending to this sideshow.

Happy Hour Anyone?

A Routine Expedition (to apple.com/trailers)

For some reason, this really made me laugh.

Can You Break A 100,000,000,000,000?

I just read that Zimbabwe recently printed a Z$100 Trillion note. Zounds that's a big number. It makes the Z$50 Billion note pictured seem quaint.

Drinking the Kool-Aid

I certainly enjoy hyperbole in the service of humor. I love it! In earnest public debate, however, I usually find it to be tiresome and/or grating at best, and all too often repugnant and offensive. Lately a noxious and outlandish comparison has come to my attention that to my knowledge no one has thought to comment upon: "drinking the kool-aid." It's been said that Obama supporters have "drank the kool-aid," that faithless members of the Right have "drank the kool-aid," that a few brave conservatives have refused to "drink [Obama's] kool-aid." This is the worst kind of hyperbole: stealthy and pernicious.

The kool-aid in question was a refreshing beverage and mass-suicide potion served to cult members by their charismatic leader in South America in 1978. Now, I will grant that Obama does have undeniably messianic, charismatic qualities. I will also grant that these qualities bring out a devotion in people that extends well beyond what is rational. But this weak comparison ends there. Barack Obama is a scholar and statesman, a man with a taste for debate and intellectual rigor. He is not a man who seeks blind obedience, nor does he have any apparent megalomaniac tendencies. He seems to be measured and thoughtful and deliberate in all things.

On the other hand, there was a president who for eight years demanded unquestioning support, who shrouded his administration in an unprecedented veil of secrecy, who claimed sanction from God, and who kept his own counsel of what is right and what is wrong, much of which flew in the face of the U.S. Constitution and international laws and conventions. Now that does sound just a bit like a cult figure.

The Man-Machine

I might possibly be getting stranger. Or perhaps I have adult onset OCD. I noticed today with some embarrassment that I always sit on the east side of the bus. When I am going north to work, I seat myself on the passenger's side of the bus. When I am southbound and returning home, I seat myself on the driver's side of the bus. This is compulsive, unconscious behavior that I am at a loss to explain. Why do I it? How long have I been doing it? Why did I notice it this morning? Weird.

Pretty Much Sums Up The Bush Years

Three cheers for David Rees, who made the insanity of 9/11 and the grotesque politics that that tragedy spawned hilarious, if painfully so. After seven years, he's wrapping up Get Your War On this month. It was a brilliant web comic. Godspeed my friend.