March 24, 2004 by s.z.

The New Issue of Virtual Occoquan, featuring the best of the Salon blogs, is out. In this, "The Depressing Issue," you get  Little Jack, a short story by Mark Hoback about a guy and his lucky quarter; Today's Political Nightmare = Tomorrow's Nostalgia? a contemplation by Miel about how someday we'll all look back on this and make it into a sitcom; Rayne explaning to a troll how middle-class people prospered in the Clinton years while still paying taxes and reducing the deficit; and Leslie's Talbot's An Open Letter to Fred Phelps, in which she inquires about Fred's well-being and asks for his help. And MORE!  You should probably check it out, unless you want all the cool people to laugh at you behind your back and stuff.  Imagine how depressing THAT would be.  7:22:05 AM

TownHall Races, Do Dah, Do Dah Our themes for today: Clarke (the disgruntled liar), removing God from the Pledge of Allegiance will make it illegal to believe in Him, and Courtney Love isn't as nice as she seems on TV. Clinton stole the silverware but left the appointees, by Ben Shapiro, Professional Virgin Every Clinton appointee kept by Bush gets disgruntled and then becomes a traitor who makes outrageous claims, like Iraq wasn't involved in 9/11, that Saddam didn't have WMDs, and that the Earth is round.  But probably the worst one of all is George Tenent. because he makes the President look bad by not making Saddam be behind 9/11, or WMDs be in Iraq. Unlike Wilson and Clarke, Tenet does not openly criticize President Bush. But it was Tenet's CIA that gave Joe Wilson the Niger job; it was Tenet's CIA that blew the intelligence on Iraq; it was Tenet's CIA that failed to prevent Sept. 11.  It was Tenet's CIA who failed to rid the President of this meddlesome ex-Terrorist chief.  William Casey would have known now to deal with Clarke. Responding to Clarke. A What-If Scenario, by Jay Bryant If Clarke had written a book about Clinton's ineffective antiterrorism efforts (you know, after Clinton had failed to take action in response to warnings of al Qaeda action, had taken the country to war with claims which turned out to be untrue, and then bragged about response to 9/11), the liberal media would have crucified him, because they always pick on Republicans and give Democrats a pass.  But instead of having Clarke killed (like how Clinton had Vince Foster taken out before he could write a book helping Bob Dole's campaign), Cheney and Rice just nicely said that Clarke was a disgruntled liar.  So what do you think, Republicans? Would you like it better if your party fought fire with fire and loosed the hounds of hell onto Clarke's heels? Or, is one of the reasons you are a Republican because they behave like grownups and maintain a dignified demeanor regardless of the provocation?   Thomas Sowell Muslims used to have Christian slaves, so reparations are stupid.  Hey, are you using that kidney? No one expects Qaddafi to pay reparations to the descendants of Europeans whom his ancestors captured on the Mediterranean coast or Western Europeans to pay reparations to Slavs who were enslaved on such a scale that the very word slave derived from their name  Walter E. Williams Virginia's Post-Disaster Anti-Price Gouging Act is un-American and unChristian, since God helps disaster victims through price-gouging. What was it that got these people and millions of others to help their fellow man in time of need? Was it admonitions from George Bush? Was it conscience or love for one's fellow man? I'll tell you what it was. It was rising prices and the opportunity for people to cash in on windfall profits. Windfall profits are one of the vital signals of the marketplace. It's a signal saying that there are unmet human wants, leading people to strive to meet those wants. It stimulates the supply response to a disaster.   Hollyweird's deadly love affair, by Michelle Malkin Courtney Love poses an imminent threat to you and your family!  She can't act, can't sing, flashes her breasts at Letterman, and is an addict.  And yet America allows her to live.  It all goes to show.  And what it shows that copying info about Courtney Love from Hollywood, Interrupted is way easier than writing an original column. "Take care of me!" Love hysterically demands of her audience. David Letterman and the rest of the selfish abettors in celebrity self-destruction have been all too happy to oblige while poor little Frances counts the days until she officially becomes an orphan. Who'll take care of her? Dave?  I think we should award custody of poor little Frances to Michelle.  Heck, all the children of celebrities should be taken away from their parents and given to Michelle to raise.  And she should be appointed guardian over all the Bush clan's kids, since she is probably the finest mother and best human being in the country. Brent Bozell Brent is glad, GLAD that Tim Robbins' play Embedded is a flop, because Tim sneered at Republicans in 1992. The public first caught this side of Robbins with the 1992 movie "Bob Roberts," a sneering pseudo-satire he wrote. Robbins played a criminally corrupt conservative Republican U.S. Senate candidate who, thanks in large part to his talent for folk-singing media manipulation, defeats a noble liberal incumbent and thereby serves the interests of the thieving, drug-running power elite that really runs this country.    Bill Murchison People just aren't properly deferential to authority these days.  In Bill's day, if Congress said we needed "under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance in order to defeat godless Communism, everbody snapped to and saluted that flag! But now we have courts deciding this kind of thing -- and in war time too!  In conclusion, when God wipes us all out, it won't be Bill's fault. The staid religiosity of our forbears compels and persuades less powerfully than of old. Nor, in my view, could we restore it simply by overturning the jurisprudence of the past four decades, starting with the decision to outlaw formal prayer in public schools. We would first have to work out our disparate views on spiritual independence -- on our fast-evolving commitment to avoid community standards of belief and action. Where in the past we might have deferred (generally) to authority, now we say, chirpily, "Over to you ... " Whatever you think. Follow your bliss. Your truths, my truths. If it feels good, do it.  Travis, the Heritage Foundation Intern The '50s were a golden age.  Back then, women never exposed their breasts at Half-time shows (except the ones held in Playboy Clubs), marriages were sacred, Julia Roberts never made bad movies, and we pledged "Under God" like our forefathers before us, if only they had thought of it.  Man, life under the threat of nuclear annihilation was SWEET! In 1954, when the Pledge was modified to acknowledge America’s allegiance with its Supreme Authority, the nation bore at least some semblance to the country of our forefathers.  Though not universally accepted of course, the Christian faith nonetheless had the respect of the United States and its leaders.  The culture regarded modesty as a positive attribute, and marriage was still revered as a sacred institution (too much so, if you ask the recent movie Mona Lisa Smile). So, I hope we have all learned a valuable lesson about stuff. 6:45:07 AM