also Letterman needs new writers, maybe some with a funny bone for a change.

“Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it
a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally, we shall insist on seeing everything – God and our friends and ourselves included – as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

—–

There is no single party responsible for the current pathetic lack of civility in our politics. American politics has never truly been civil but the rancor seems to have snowballed since Clinton took office.

Politicians of both parties whine about bipartisanship, but the fact of the matter is that they all employ staff whose entire job it is to take any little thing an opponent says or does, spin it in a crazy direction, blow it out of proportion, then build a conspiracy theory around it, until it seems we are two steps from Armageddon. The goal is not to point out areas in which your opponent is wrong, but to make it seem like he is a criminal and a traitor. Openly biased propaganda outlets masquerading as news networks need to fill 24 hours of airtime on cable, so producers will take any old bait and run with it. Hysterical talking heads compete to see who can be the most outraged over the latest efforts by their ideological opponents to destroy the Constitution or Christmas or capitalism or whatever, based on the principle that, if you are yelling, people will pay attention regardless of what you are actually saying. And we the people have become so entrenched in our ideologies that we refuse to listen to anyone who isn’t reinforcing what we already know. We will believe any evil rumors about the opposition, no matter how flimsy or ludicrous. In fact, we actively seek out ever worse things we can believe about them.

We are trained very well to hate and fear those we should merely disagree with. The opposing ideology is not just wrong, it is evil, as are any and all adherents to that ideology. We no longer have opponents to be defeated; we have enemies to be destroyed. In this environment, is it really any surprise that Kanye West thinks George Bush doesn’t care about black people, or that the President of the United States, in the middle of two wars and a recession, has to spend time repeatedly assuring a nervous public that he isn’t going to euthanize their grandparents? Is it shocking that ridiculous fantasy stories questioning the parentage of Sarah Palin’s son, or President Obama’s citizenship, are broadcast in prime time on national television? Is it any wonder that people stand outside town hall meetings with automatic weapons or a sitting representative heckles the President during a speech before Congress?

Winston Churchill

(thanks to Micharl Tobis, who in return thanks others for finding this quotation.)

http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/19079

As of 11AM Pacific time the total was closing on $800,000. Contributions keep coming in and I think it’s highly likely that Wilson’s outburst might have be worth a million dollars toward getting rid of him.

Before Wilson’s violation of House rules Miller had only $60k and change.

President Obama is correct when he stated that the time for action is now – but the Republicans are looking forward only so far as 2010, and not, in my opinion, to the long-term health and security of this nation.

“I chust vanted to say that he shouldn’t have vaited until Zeptember. He should have zed it in Yuly.”