Queen for a Day

I'm thinking about starting the 'Rosie Ruiz Appreciation Society.' On this day 30 years ago, Rosie won the 1980 Boston Marathon. She was unfairly stripped of her title when it was discovered that she had joined the race about a mile before the finish line. :) A win is a win, right Rosie?

Atta girl!

Legit Movement or Armed Circle Jerk

Sullivan got it right.  A movement based on the noble core principals of smaller govt and fiscal responsibility loses all credibility when it's guided by blind partisanship (see: unfunded war perpetrated by a GOP President and Congress is all good, but this President is killing our nation with debt!) and suspiciously high levels of open hostility towards the current administration. I'd wager that if you offered the average Tea Party member an opportunity to either sit down with the President to discuss ideas for cutting taxes and reducing spending, or attend a TP rally on the White House lawn, he'd choose the latter everytime.  "Civil discourse is appeasement!"  No, actually it's not.  It's how serious people handle serious problems in the modern world.

"...and that lack of seriousness is complemented by a near-fanatical cultural alienation from the modern world."

It's enough to make you wonder if Tea Party 'leaders' aren't perfectly happy being marginalized.  After all, having a seat at the legislative bargaining table means having to use your 'inside voice' to articulate actual ideas. *yawn*  Instead, let's embrace that fringe and keep those cameras rolling!  It's a beautiful time of year to be standing outdoors screaming about socialism and 'your America.'

Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

Pride or Prejudice

Meacham goes all historical for the 'neo-Confederates' out there who apparently need a reminder, if not an education. 

"As the sesquicentennial of Fort Sumter approaches in 2011, the enduring problem for neo-Confederates endures: anyone who seeks an Edenic Southern past in which the war was principally about states’ rights and not slavery is searching in vain, for the Confederacy and slavery are inextricably and forever linked."

As a proud Georgia native, I've never understood why so many of my fellow southerners feel the need to tie their southern pride to the Confederacy.  Does the South really have so little to be proud of....that we have to cling to a flag that symbolizes, among other things, a state's right to own people?  I too hope the 'South rises again'....this time leaving all the ignorance and hatred behind.

And btw, Jon Meacham.....he's a Tennessee boy.  Still lives there with his wife....a belle from Mississippi. 

How bout that.

-TRS

Drunk History: Nikola Tesla

Starring John C. Reilly and Crispin Glover...

The Usual Suspect

There is a reason why "the devil made me do it" is usually said in jest....and most of us get the joke.  It's a laughable punchline that's normally reserved for something as mundane as double parking or stealing that last slice of cheesecake.  But when it's used as a defense for the rape and molestation of children, it loses all humor.

I'm not sure a single quote can sum up the enormity of the Catholic Church's denial in the face of such clear and overwhelming evidence...but this one comes close:

“...and so we should not be surprised if priests too ... fall into temptation. They also live in the world and can fall like men of the world.”  --  Father Gabriele Amorth, chief exorcist for the Holy See

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0402/italian-excorcist-devil-ny-times-attack-pope/

Yes, I just quoted an exorcist, but give me a break!   In Rome, this guy is actually considered to be a credible voice.  And he has the balls to shrug off the rampant pedophilia that has now been proven to exist within the Catholic priesthood as a simply a case of worldly men giving into temptation.  Happens to us all, right?  Nothing a few Hail Marys can't fix.  What's the big deal?  Business as usual at the Vatican.  The rest of us need to get over it!

Not this time, Father.

"Just a Thought"

A little perspective from the President...