Vast Write Wing - July 2010

[lwoolley]

BBIII,
Indeed, in these erudite polemical exchanges sense-of-humor and skin thickness can be severely tested. Harry Truman once said: "If you can't stand the heat, don't come in the kitchen." Much higher on the snobometer scale we Old Glory, Texas, natives stated the same thing thusly: "If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch."

BTW, today's WSJ has an opinion column by Daniel Henninger that everyone in this study group should "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" (as Martin Luther stated it). I averred in an earlier missive that I tend toward defining (for myself) when there is no basis for additional polemical interchange, erudite or not. Jeff, in this context I, unlike the Secretary of Logic, do not recommend the reading of this column to you with any hope or objective toward changing your mind. This is not an ahah! moment. Henninger merely states implicitly why "giving this sitting president the benefit of the doubt" has not been an option for many of us since before he began said "sitting" and, in turn, reading this column could enable you to know your philosophical opponent(s) better. When Eisenhower was president he frequently referred to Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson as "the loyal opposition." Those days are long gone. Devolutionary/enclave, polarization, alienation is who we are and where we are. Tocqueville was right.
USL

[lwoolley]

Y'all,
Gay Lutheran pastors! It is important to me that you guys, the study group, know this about me (and Roxie). After reading this we can all return to secular polemical interchange.......

Lutheranism is composed of autonomous synods (think denominations). These synods are very autonomous. The Secretary of Logic knows this about Roxie and me. We are members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Temple which is Missouri Synod. The article that appeared in Sunday's Telegram about gay Lutheran pastors is anathema to us Missouri Synod types. Missouri Synod Lutheran is traditional values: pro-life, homosexuality is an abomination, stuff-like-that. The 'gay Lutheran pastors'
synod name is Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Doctrinally, Missouri Synod even sometimes overlaps with Baptist except that we subscribe to Ben Franklin's observation that "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to have fun."

Best regards to all,
USL

[lwoolley]

LS:

"When it's liberal, liberal, liberal on the label, label, label."

Gee ... Where was your outrage when you fat-assed, pill-pollin', 4-time marryin' hero, "Get out of town Limbaugh" sold his home in NYC to escape paying taxes in NY? Oh, and his move to Florida years ago was to escape other taxes in NY?

Oops! Another day, another hypocrisy! I love the right wing -- They want everybody ELSE to pay taxes -- not THEM.

And the amazing thing is that most talk show hosts don't make all that much money and really BELIEVE in voting against things that are in their best interests.

You've fallen for it -- and you don't even know that you've been taken. The big guys have you and other talk show hosts as their defenders. Meanwhile, your life doesn't get any better.

But keep it up. You only have slogans and cliches -- no plans, no ideas and no vision for the country.

AND SO YOU SHOUT, "RUN SARAH RUN!!!!!!"

[lwoolley]

Lynn, when I was a teenager in St louis in the 50s, traveling around my neighborhood I was perplexed by lawn signs stating " This House Is Not For Sale". I finally got a reading at to what was going on, I was informed that the Urban League was trying to bust up white neighborhoods by purchasing homes above market value and moving in a black family. The sad thing about this stategy was white flight, lower property values and the establishingment of a growing getto. Great work Urban League. Caught a few minutes of obama before the Urban League this morning and other than general pandering, he seemed ill prepared.

Mike Licavoli
Harker Hts, TX

[lwoolley]

Lynn, you got it wrong, Nixons move to appear on Laugh- In was brillant since most Americans enjoyed this program.
What can you say about the View's audience, mostly Liberal women and Adam Lambert.

Mike Licavoli
Harker Hts, TX

[lwoolley]

Here is the challenge: Will you translate “merde” then go back and read Les Miserables looking for the secret message associated with that word?

My youngest child, and younger daughter, graduated from St. John’s College in Annapolis. The highest award given by the College is the Senior Thesis Award, which went to her at her graduation in 2006. The title of her paper was “Merde”. It is one of about three documents I have read in my entire life that radically changed my world view.

If you translate the word and want to see the paper I will send it on request.

Jeff

[lwoolley]

wade <wwlls@hotmail.com>

At 9:00 AM Obama was on both Fox & MSNBC giving a speech to the Urban League, at 10:00 he is on The View, at 11:00 I bet he is on Days Of Our Lives and then my wife is going to be real upset.

[lwoolley]

Next for Obama is the Jerry Springer Show...and then the standards get lower from there
Once again,Obama doesn't respect the traditions of the country & is out to upset the applecart,his way...As Pelosi told us "You'll see what's in
healthcare bill...after...we pass it"
Al, Lemon Grove

[lwoolley]

Glen,

For the first time you disappoint me. If you are a seeker of truth then I strongly recommend you not place me in a mental box. I have made a career of seeing the world from other people’s point of view. That I am not on the extreme right of the political scale does not make me reside on the left. Your comment echoes those from my “liberal” friends. (Yes, I have self-described liberal friends.) I have made a point for the last decade or so of not condemning a person’s beliefs and perspective until or unless I have heard their personal defense of that view. Very commonly, in hearing “the other side” I have found elements of truth there that have changed my view.

No, I do not normally participate in or agree with the concept that those who disagree with my view are totally evil. Unfortunately, that seems to be a more popular with each passing day. It is easy to divide the world into “us” and “them.” However, when I have taken the time to sit down with the “them” and listen to their views and evidence, in many cases I see myself.

I once had a good friend, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army who was a self-professed liberal (and a Democrat). When we were preparing to invade Iraq he (having just retired) lambasted the Bush Administration. He had just returned from two tours in Afghanistan and insisted that we were not only leaving a job unfinished, but that it would come back to bite us, and bite us hard. He insisted that we should have focused our attention on Afghanistan rather than withdrawing almost all of our resources from there to pursue a war in Iraq. I disagreed with him. He was right. I was wrong. He warned that Iraq would be like a tar-baby and as bad as Saddam Hussein was, the chaos that replaced him would be worse. More, he warned that we needed a semi-crazy dictator in Iraq to balance the religious fanatics in Iran. In retrospect, he was right. Finally he warned that if we dissipated our forces and energy trying to occupy and rebuild Iraq and pacify Afghanistan at the same time we easily could wind up losing in both countries. He told me that as odious as the Hussein dictatorship was, it was not an actual threat to the United States and the no-fly zone enforcement effectively left Iraq impotent to harm us. Afghanistan, he told me, was the threat. He said that we needed to focus a heck of a lot of energy on that country while the Taliban were disorganized and in disrepute.

I did not listen to him and he gave up on me in disgust. In retrospect, I can say he is and was right. When I fail to listen seriously to those with whom I may disagree, I lose the opportunity to grow. Certainly all of them do not have valid points, but most of them do.

In the end I am a Constitutionalist. Whoever has been elected President under the Constitution will have my support for any and all legal actions until the election season comes. I may then choose to support the opposing candidate. In my experience, particularly overseas and while I was working in the intelligence profession, impassioned opposition to the legal policies of a sitting President strengthens our enemies and disheartens our allies.

Jeff

[lwoolley]

TEABAGGERS...

I use the term because several of my friends locally who are very active in the TEA Party movement have so referred to themselves, apparently with much pride. They have, on several occasions, presented me with tea-bags, and told me that was their calling card.

Jeff

[lwoolley]

I actually have no idea. I do know that the local self-identified “Tea-Baggers” in common conversation amongst themselves as well as with me, refer to “Tea-Baggers” in the place in a sentence where someone else might say “liberals” or “Republicans.” I certainly hope this is not one of those issues where if one is a bone-fide TEA Party person one can call others of the same inclination something like “tea-bagger” but it is an unforgiveable sin for a non-TEA-Party-rally attendee to use the term.

As far as I know, there is no official organization called the TEA Party which parallels the Republican or Democrat organizations. I thought of “Tea-Bagger” in the same way as “GOP” for the Republican Party. Frankly, if someone gives me a tea-bag with his name on the paper handle and states that the tea-bag is the symbol for who he is, I would consider “Tea-Bagger” to be a perfectly reasonable term. I give investment advice and am quite happy with the designation “Investment Adviser.” You provide production for a radio show, and call yourself a “Producer.”

Is it in your eyes offensive? The local members, or at least dedicated attendees at rallies, certainly do not hesitate to characterize me as an “Obama-lover” as well as numerous other terms, like, “Jeff is a Socialist.” Mr. Woolley has leveled a few of those at me as well in his very public manner. Note that I have not expressed offense, even if I disagree with his opinion. If the nascent TEA Party movement has already become sensitive to benign names that have at least no historic social stigma, then they well may join the NAACP in their “We can call each other that, but you cannot utter the word because you are not us.” attitude.

If not TEA-Bagger, then what term is appropriate? TEA Party member doesn’t work because there is no official “TEA-Party.” At the same time there is little doubt that the attendees at the rallies hold a common set of beliefs and concerns that set them apart from the rest of the electorate. I am, at least according to my more liberal friends, a “Conservative,” yet I am not in agreement with the expressed views I hear from those who are TEA-Party attendees. Somehow TEA-Party rally attendee just does not seem to resonate.

If you consider yourself a TEA person, what do you propose the collective identification should be? “TEA-person” certainly sounds far too wimpy to represent the movement.

Jeff

[lwoolley]

SOL,
I heard parts of your alleged show this morning. Particularly, I heard you say that the US may very well be headed for a divorce and I heard you use the word devolution. You first got that from the USL in my May 24, 2001, encyclical. I did not hear you give me credit(s). Just because I plagiarized this opinion from The Great Reconing by co-authors James Dale Davidson & Sir William Rees-Mogg does not enable you take sole credit for yourself. This reminds me of my father-in-law who rejected all of my suggested ideas but then would surface six months later as HIS ideas.
USL

[lwoolley]

Jeff,

The term "teabagger" was unknown to me until I heard it used by Keith Olbermann, followed by a sophomoric snigger. I figured it must have some hidden meaning. So I checked. Here is the definition from WikiPedia:

To tea bag is a slang term for the act of a man placing his scrotum in the mouth of a sexual partner. The practice resembles dipping a tea bag into a cup of tea when it is done in a repeated in-and-out motion. As a form of non-penetrative sex, it can be done for its own enjoyment or as foreplay before other activities, such as oral sex.

I find it offensive and have never heard a Tea-Partier use it. I often use the term "moonbat" for liberals, but so far as I know, it has no hidden meaning, homosexual or otherwise.

Lynn

[lwoolley]

Wayne <texasbass@hotmail.com>

Enough with the "illegal immigration" stuff.

This should be referred to as exactly what it is - Illegal Invasion.

Semper Fi

[lwoolley]

Whew! I am apparently quite naive when it comes to homosexual slang, and would just as soon stay that way! I stand corrected and hereby proclaim that I will never use the aforementioned term again! Yuck!

I also offer a very sincere apology for my use of the term previously.

I looked up the term myself just now and found the following reference from the Wikipedia:

Use of term "teabagger"
The term teabagger emerged after protesters displayed placards using the words "tea bag" as a verb,[180][181]
Reference 181: This is from a “New American TEA Party” rally in Washington in 2009.

Ron Paul’s website cites ReTeaParty.com as “Tea Party Grassroots Central.” According to an article in Salon it is from that website that the term originated. (reference 180).

Ann Coulter wrote a Free Republic article (July 28) today with the headline: “WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS KEITH OLBERMANN? (Racists Under Every Tea Bag!)”

Wikipedia also referenced the widely circulated email advocating mailing tea-bags to one’s representatives in Washington.

I think you can see where we naive folks could think the term was a reasonable one.

Again I apologize to all concerned.

Jeff