December 21, 2005 by s.z.

For a Good Time ...  ... Check out  Bride Of Acheron.  You'll especially like the Sonnet on wire-tapping, and the Interview With Victim IV. JABBS also has some good stuff on topics of current interest, such as as discussion of all that Arduous Paperwork that prevented the Bush administration from filing for FISA warrants, and a piece about Pat Robertson calling evolution A "Cultish Religion." So, check out these blogs -- and if they don't wish you a Merry Christmas, then you can probably get the Alliance Defense Fund to sue them. 5:52:08 AM

More Smacking No list of people who need smacking would be complete without the inclusion of Dr. Mike Adams, Ph.D.   His most recent column, "The University of North Carolina at Gomorrah (Revisited)," is another one of his emails to a UNC official -- in this one, he whines about being mistreated, while also bragging about how powerful he really is.  He then tacks on something about how two Libertarian students were being repressed by the administration.   These seem to be his most heart-felt paragraphs: Chancellor Sullivan,   In 2004, you carelessly told a member of the UNC Board of Governors to help you "get Mike Adams off your back" following a decision to hire (for $3000) a porn star to speak at UNC-Greensboro the night before I spoke at your university without compensation for hotel and mileage expenses. I say "carelessly," because you were unaware that the Board member was (and is) a supporter of mine. [...] But, today, I want to pause to thank the administration for funding two of my later speeches at UNCG – in April of 2004 and, again, in April of 2005. I used the money to buy firearms on both occasions. After I finish this editorial, I will forward pictures of some of the animals I killed for your viewing pleasure. That's our Dr. Mike: always killing animals for the viewing pleasure of his UNC foes!    Anyway, Mr. Bartholomew of Bartholomew's Notes on Religion (be sure to check out his latest post, "Thai Children Get Rapture Ready" to learn about how some evangelicals have been doing the Lord's work by converting traumatized children to Christianity) tipped us off to a post at Lloydletta's Nooz and Comments, where Eva Young emailed Dr. Mike to ask him about one of his columns, and Dr. Mike replied.  One of his emails said in part: Eva, most people saw it as a parody on Mirecki's cowardice. You mean that "Religious intolerance in Kansas" was supposed to be a parody?!  Gee, I saw it as an another embarrassing and tedious example of Dr. Mike talking to the voices in his head --but now I know better. But, you are vastly superior - intellectually speaking. You recognized that each time I emailed him, Mirecki actually - quite calmly, I might add - typed in the words "no comment." Are you a feminist professor, by any chance? That's our Dr. Mike: always thinking he's insulting people by calling them feminist professors! So, instead of smacking him, let's just shout "vagina, vagina" at him until he assumes the fetal position. Next for smacking is The Alliance Defense Fund's Demetrios Stratis, who is still fighting the War Against the War on Christmas, despite the fact that everybody but Bill O'Reilly went home to have hot cocoa days ago. Here's part of the ADF press release disguised as a WorldNetDaily story ("Grinches working overtime in schools" which tells about his heroic fight: The war on Christmas continues to rage in America's public schools, but so does the counteroffensive. In Mine Hill, N.J., elementary school officials changed the title and words to "Silent Night" in its "X-mas Files" concert program. [...] "Silent night, holy night" was changed to "Silent night, winter night" by the officials at the Mine Hill Canfield Avenue School, according to an attorney from the Alliance Defense Fund, which is challenging the action. Wait, didn't that happen in Dodgeville, WI, and wasn't it debunked by Brad at Sadly, No!? Or didn't it happen in Egg Harbor Township, NJ, and wasn't it rebutted by Media Matters? No, my mistake -- actually Mr. Stratis is talking about a completely different incident that didn't happen (see AU.org's "The Religious Right's Phony 'War on Christmas'"). But back to WND, for more exciting war reporting: "It's remarkable that we even have to debate whether or not it's okay to celebrate Christmas at school," said ADF-allied attorney Demetrios Stratis. "The Constitution does not require government officials to expunge religious observances and expression from public schools. The common perception by many school officials that such expression violates the law is simply in error." Stratis explained the Supreme Court has never ruled that saying "Merry Christmas" or having a merry Christmas is illegal.  Sure, the activist judges on the Supreme Court TRIED to make it illegal to have a merry Christmas, but their evil plot was foiled, thanks to the Alliance Defense Fund. School officials refused to accept delivery of Stratis' letter. I can't say as I blame them -- it's a really long, boring form letter.  I bet Mr. Stratis bills the ADF by the hour. "It seems that these school officials are behaving as though they answer to no one," said Stratis. "Apparently they have forgotten that they are in fact public servants, accountable to the people of this community. It's a sad day in America when a public-school parent needs to retain a lawyer in order to ensure his child can participate in a Christmas concert without confronting official censorship." And it's a sad day in America when WorldNetDaily regularly prints the ADF's claims without ever contacting the schools being maligned to get their side of the story. But hey, I guess it would be a pretty boring war if WND's readers learned that nobody was fighting it except for Bill and Demetrios.  P.S.  Although we're all sick of the War on the War on Christmas, it's not fair of us to ignore MichNews guest columnist Chris David, who says that "The 'War on Christmas' Is the Good Fight."  We only have time for a sampling of Chris's work, but I think you'll see from it that Chris is a true Christmas warrior: Now is the time to fight the good fight, securing those traditions of Christ for ourselves and our posterity.  And now is the time for conservative Americans to stand up in confrontation of those that would promote a secular agenda, screaming in outrage: “We will not take this any longer!” These conservative Americans have waged this war for fifty years, never tiring and faltering.  [...] They are represented by women like Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and Secretary Condoleeza Rice, passing on the Christian principles of morality and fighting the ‘War on Christmas’ to preserve our American traditions and celebrate the Christmas season, echoing the principles handed to them by their mothers.  Yes, for fifty years, Ann Coulter has passed on principles of morality (she doesn't care for them because they cramp her style), and has gone to the window and shouted in outrage, "I'm mad as hell at this War on Christmas, and I'm not going to take it any longer!"    And it's been fun every year. P.P.S.  If you're tired of the War On the War on Christmas music, check out Radio Free Krup: HOLIDAY Music Edition.  Beginning Wednesday December 21st (at 2pm EST) through December 28th, I will be your host for Six Degrees Traveler Radio's Second Annual Holiday Music Spectacular. That's right, two solid, commercial free hours of seriously good Holiday music, featuring: The Ventures, Pearl Jam, Moce2, an Worker, John Lennon, Polyphonic Spree, Kiki & Herb, Macy Gray, Death Cab for Cutie, Tom Waits, R.E.M. and much, much more! With special guests Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Sedaris, Pee Wee Herman and The Simpsons!! Krup also claims there will be a "very special message of peace, love, and understanding" by a certain world leader, but I'm not sure that I believe him. 5:21:39 AM

Happy Birthday, Marq! Because we like you, we won't be giving you this for your special day: Yes, Dr. Laura has a new book coming out right after the first of the year. (The media blitz starts on January 4th, so stay away from "The Today Show," "Hannity & Whoever," "Fox and Fiends," "Paula Zahn Pretty Soon," etc. during the first week of January, if you know what's good for you.) Here's some info about the book from publisher HarperCollins: In this important book, Dr. Laura Schlessinger shows men and women that they can have a Good Life no matter how Bad their Childhood. For each of us, there is a connection between our early family dynamics and experiences and our current attitudes and decisions. Many of the people Dr. Laura has helped did not realize how their histories impacted their adult lives, or how their choices in people, repetitive situations, and decisions -- even their emotional reactions -- were connected to those early negative experiences, playing a major role in their current unhappiness. For these people and millions like them, too much time is dedicated to repeating the ugly dynamics of childhood in a vain attempt to repair or cope with deep hurt and longings. Too often they use their emotional pain to control others or excuse their own inappropriate and destructive behaviors. Some turn to therapy, only to find themselves trapped in their self-pitying victim mode, robbed of optimism, confidence, and growth. I'm pretty sure Dr. Laura's advice can be boiled down to "Stop whining and screwing up your lives, you stupid people -- after all, my childhood was worse than yours, and look how well I turned out!" Bad Childhood -- Good Life comes from a compassionate and personal place. We're not going to speculate where that place may be, but we know that many wingnuts seem to pull their books from out of their hinders. Anyway, Dr. Laura's publicists have some info about her NEXT book: In January, Harper-Collins will release her ninth book, Bad Childhood - Good Life and she is working on Ten MORE Stupid Things Women Do To Mess Up Their Lives. It's great that stupid women with messed up lives keep calling into Dr. Laura's radio program, so she has fodder for all of these books. Dr. Laura is available for interviews and we have excellent photos available. Um, we're hoping they're not the ones you find when you Google "Dr. Laura" nude."   What a bad birthday present for Marq they would be! 2:12:55 AM