I mentioned recently how bemused I was by the phenomenon of protesters interrupting speeches and the heckled speaker responding that she is “glad to see freedom of speech flourishing,” but only after the free speaker has gotten his ass dragged out of the room for a beating. Well. If that bemused me, I don’t even know where to begin with what happened yesterday at the White House, where a state visit from the internet-restrictin’, press-stompin’, religion-persecutin’, sterilization-mandatin’, cold-blooded motha****a leading China was interrupted by a heckler (”hey, president of China! How ’bout you don’t throw people in the dungeon for, like, blogging?”) the heckler got dragged away for her beating, and then the White House apologized. To China.
“I hope our freedom of speech didn’t upset the complete sons of bitches we invited over. I hope they don’t think all that speaking up was our idea. We better say something.” There’s a teaching moment for your civics class.
When asked how he would have handled the situation, presidential hopeful John McCain offered President Hu a handjob in exchange for $40.
Some day soon, I am hoping to write a few lines about who I would in fact vote for. A couple of names do come to mind. As McCain and Hillary Clinton illustrate, though, at this stage of the game saying which candidate best represents you is like saying which of the shoreline’s sandcastles you’d like to live in next year.
April 24th, 2006 at 10:29 am
And President Hu is still less evil than President Bush. What’s worse, though, China’s restricting the internet, free speech, etc. - or America’s eagerness to help them do it? Anyway, I suppose our economy would be so much more productive if we just did away with free speech and restricted all conversation to topics about new consumer items or popular entertainment “news.”
…Tomkitten made it onto my local news the other day, for shame. I should also not be familar with the term Brangelina, but I am.
April 25th, 2006 at 7:01 am
I think your site is being attacked by on line pharmacy-affiliated spam bloggers (splog?). I’m sure there is a real name for it with which I am unfamiliar. I’m also sure you don’t need me to point it out. But I can’t help but think that this is even a little bit worse than being asked to apply for the little rich kids’ cattle drive.
April 25th, 2006 at 8:34 am
Do you like how I delete the spam, and now it looks like you’re crazy? Spam? What spam? Are you sure you’re feeling all right? Someone around here is pharmacy-affiliated, all right.
What you’re seeing in the comments is the Liberty vs. Security struggle on a tiny, stupid scale. In time, I may grow weary of constant attacks making my corner of the world a worse place and make everyone show me their ID or take a little test before they can speak. In the meantime, those flare-ups of garbage are the price we pay for being Free.
I’m also tweaking the site’s spam filter. Do yourself a favor: don’t tell me my site is very cognitive and you wish me best in future. It’ll work out better for you if you don’t.