31 Comments

1. heather:

the issue of Suri’s paternity is of consuming interest to my niece & her husband, and also to my hairdresser. And also to MOI, now.

To make myself more socially acceptable, I am reading a couple of gossip blogs. The trouble is, who is Lindsey Lohan? I ask, and ask, and there is never any satisfactory answer. Paris Hilton, now. SHE I can recognize, because of her very small eyes.

Also Teeth. A source of HOURS of interesting conversation with one and all. Scraping, flossing, old and new kinds of drilling; the expense of orthodonty; pre-plastic false teeth..

Oct 29, 2006 - 9:43 pm 2. Terrye:

I am going to be going to OK to visit family soon and I will do my best to avoid politics for the duration. Otherwise the visit will become a chore. Since my brother watches Chris Matthews and morons like that for news, discussion is almost impossible. He does not know what he is talking about half the time. I love him but that is the truth.

Oct 30, 2006 - 2:56 am 3. jedrury:

Last New Years’ Eve, an American journalist for a foreign newspaper interrupted dinner, grabbed his wife and walked out of my house when I politely defended the president and his powers to wiretap foreign phone calls.

Roger, is right ! Dialogue is dead.

As a conservative in the People’s Republic of Arlington, I’d rather talk about Paris Hilton’s latest escapade than Jim Webb’s salacious novels.

As the country cascades into a Democratic House, conservatives should prepare themselves for the botax images of Speaker Pelosi and the shrillness of Queen Hillary. What Dick Armey calls “the accidental majority” of the Democrats is a week away.

Oct 30, 2006 - 5:45 am 4. AskMom:

I’m in favor of the amicable dinner table, myself. Lobbying teaches you to slug it out in the hearings and the mark-up sessions like a bunch of drugged up WWF showmen, then have drinks and dinner and talk about the new varieties of orchids as if you’d prepped together.

Grandma was right, or in this case I should say, correct. Verbal slanging matches have no place at the table.

Oct 30, 2006 - 6:41 am 5. Dymphna:

Well…I don’t go to many dinner parties anymore. I remember the rituals from my years living in Wellesley, but they were the kind of thing I was glad to have *done*, not ever a process I enjoyed putting together.

Now I go to things like Brunswick stew on the lawn at the big house, or pancake dinners with the Episcopalians for Shrove Tuesday, or oysters at the Methodist church…or an occasional couple come to dinner. The pace is so different in the Piedmont in Virginia…

The last ruckus I raised was at church: rather than using the gospel from that Sunday’s lectionary for his talking points, the (Episcopalian) priest used an interview he heard on NPR — this was during the 9/11 anniversary period just past. He quoted some woman who said that the experience of watching the Towers fall had made her an aetheist.

It was more than I could stand. I called out from the pew and asked him if he wondered why, of all the choices they had at hand, NPR had chosen a negative one. They could have found someone who felt the opposite, they could have found someone whose faith was strengthened by the countless demonstrations of courage and people helping one another, but no — Negative-on-Purpose-Radio trolled until they found a loser…as they always do. I ended by explaining to him that NPR had an agenda and it wasn’t one that lined up with my moral philosophy…

Now I’m known as “the one who doesn’t like NPR.” When I say I like the music, that gets ignored. My reputation is now firmly in place. Which is good, because now I can be more assertive.

For example, when the interim bishop came to make his (mandatory) visit, I suggested that one of the best things that could happen to the Rapidly Shrinking Church was to get rid of the (mandatory)racial training. I told him no one in our small parish would ever show up for one and that I was no more racist than my black neighbors — our area is mostly black and we were even married in a black Baptist Church — so the national church was beating a dead horse. He told me we should get together and discuss corporate racism. I rolled my eyes and said “suuure. What a relevant idea. How about we get together and make some response to the degradation of the underclass, maybe see what we could do in the way of education or mentoring…”

His eyes glazed over and since lunch was over, I took my casserole dish and went home. If you think talking to a journalist is a waste of time, try an American Episcopal bishop.

I must admit, I find my new role entertaining.

Sorry to be so long, Roger, but I was Raised Right, too — one didn’t talk about politics, sex or religion in public. However, have you noticed that those subjects have now melded in so many areas — abortion, “sanctuary” for illegal aliens, removing relgious symbols from the public square, etc., — that it’s almost impossible to keep the old civilities in place. The ancient, venerable Wren Chapel at the College of William and Mary has just removed the cross from its premises. I’m sure it was because the three Jews at the college threatened to riot and it scared the administration…

As me mither would’ve said, “idjits, every one of ‘em..”

Oct 30, 2006 - 6:48 am 6. Dave M:

The real problem is that the left always thought that there were no differences of opinion on sex, religion and politics among their circle.

When they discover “disloyalty” is shocks them and it has taken a while to recover.

Oct 30, 2006 - 7:26 am 7. Buddy Larsen:

Grandma was pretty smart. Those three subjects end up as opinions on the value of other’s essential being.

Leave ‘em out, and you have acts, and even motives for acts. Plenty hairy enough to maintain interest, and go somewhere.

Oct 30, 2006 - 11:16 am 8. Miluimnik:

American Hero under seige by Jihad University Ca.

Dr.Paul Williams, the man directly responsible for preventing an Islamist attack on the Canadian Parliament (June-2006)and the assassination of the Canadian P.M., is being sued by McMaster University (to the tune of 6 Million dollars!) for his efforts.

Since the lawsuit against Professor Williams was announced his “friends” in Canada have cut all communications with him (obviously out of fear that they also will be sued), leaving Paul up some Northern river without a paddle. We never expected a “thank-you” or other expression of gratitude from the Canadian public (and none was forthcoming), however, Williams’ being treated like a leper was/is totally unexpected.

Paul Williams is in immediate need of a Canadian lawyer. He is required to file a response to the lawsuit within a few days (Friday actually). If anyone know of an experienced and committed advocate willing to take on such a case, please contact me at Michaelmgr@Gmail.com

Thank you,

Michael Travis

Michael Travis is solely responsible for the above letter……………..so sue me, our Israeli courts will bleed you dry!

**
Paul L. Williams is an American author, journalist, and consultant. He is also an adjunct professor of [[humanities].

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Wilkes University, a Master of Divinity degree from Drew University, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree also from Drew.

He is the author of six books, the most recent one being Dunces of Doomsday: 10 Blunders That Gave Rise to Radical Islam, Terrorist Regimes, and the Threat of an American Hiroshima.[1]

Williams came to international prominence in early June, 2006, as a result of his central involvement as an investigator the month prior into the suspicious activities of members of the faculty of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. These investigations, paired with investigations being conducted by Ontario police eventually led to the arrests of 17 terrorist suspects by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).[2][3]. It should be noted that no main stream media sources such as the Associated Press, BBC, and NBC do not name Williams and the only sources given are a very questionable sources at worldnetdaily.com and a online prophecy magazine. Prior to this, he served for seven years as a consultant to the FBI about terrorist and mafia criminal organizations.[4]

Oct 30, 2006 - 12:00 pm 9. miapulp:

Misery loving company and all, these posts have made me feel a little better about my own miserable life. Isolation and loneliness are new to me. Our house was the family gathering spot for lively Sunday night meals with wine, laughter and lots of movie talk. Then it became political talk. Then, one by one, the former friends along with my sister and her husband, stopped popping in.

Father’s Day BBQ was the end for my sis and her hubby. They had just returned from their heady Yearly Kos prolonged weekend of Bush-Bashing and Repuke-Mocking. And, although we had tiptoed as carefully as possible over the intervening months and years, it was too prominent in their minds that night. My sister started in with a discussion of the “Republican War on Science” while my bro-in-law was haranguing me over gay marriage, do-nothing Congress, “Your President,” etc. And this was only 20 minutes into the evening.

I told him I wanted to relax, sip my wine and that he was in too much of a ‘Yearly Kos Mode.’ Walking away from the confrontation, I was almost to my seat when he whirled around with the BBQ tongs waving and issued this retort — “You’re in too much of an Ann Coulter mode!” Stinging rejoinder. ; ) What could I say? I laughed. My husband then got riled and said something insulting about a photo of my sister in a Tin Foil Hat taken at the Yearly Kos. (Get it — ‘tin foil hats?’ 180 degree humor.) At that point, they both flew out of the house to their car and drove away. June 17th. They have not returned.

So it’s almost time for Toikey Day. I’ve broached the subject in emails with my sister. “You are coming for Thanksgiving, right?” Email is now our exclusive means of communication though we used to talk nearly everyday. No answer. She told me Thanksgiving is “too far off to commit to now.” I’m taking that as a “No.” Or are they waiting to hear the results of the election before RSVPing to our annual always-at-my-house Thanksgiving Family Dinner? I don’t know. I think I have to let it pass.

With former friends, it is mostly strained these days. I regularly receive nasty, insulting, demeaning emails regarding this or that Republican. Screeching over-the-top rhetoric like this recent fave — “How can you people be against finding cures for sick people?!” Links to Keith Olbermann on YouTube as if I will suddenly be enlightened by the likes of KO!

I think it is because I am the only self-proclaimed Republican (though once a bona fide leftie Amnesty International La Barricada subscriber KPFK Premium subscriber) any of them know. I am the one they can attack in lieu of any administration official. Or maybe they’re just checking to see if I’m come to my senses. I know they are baffled.

So anyway, I’ve got my Williams-Sonoma Willie Bird ordered. I’ve got my newly upholstered dining room chairs being delivered today. Got a nice new table with two leaves — seats 12. The room is looking real cute. The table runner is scattered with fall leaves and little pumpkins and gourds. If it turns out that my husband and I are the only diners on Thanksgiving, well, so be it, I suppose.

Having a real hard time coming to terms with all the changes though.

Oh, and the conversations we resort to when avoiding politics — dogs. Dog shows. Dog parks. And how 84.5 pounds isn’t too heavy for a female labrador retriever. Labs are stocky, you know. They’re not Greyhounds.

Sigh…

Oct 30, 2006 - 12:22 pm 10. Buddy Larsen:

miapulp, your post should be on the cover of a newsweekly. TIME, perhaps; “What the Hell is Happening to Our Culture?”.

Oct 30, 2006 - 12:40 pm 11. Fausta:

are being observed once again in social situations
If only!
Here at the Princeton People’s Republic of the Globally Warmed Later Day Coalition for Peace Deaniacs, religion, politics and sex are the only subjects people insist on talking about. And they tie all three together.

If you try to appear midly congenial, the assumption is that you heartily agree with every point. If you try to bring up any objection, no matter how politely, even by saying that you really don’t feel like discussing s, p op r, you are clearly labeled as a heretic.

And then there’s the time I said “I’m not totally sold on global warming”. The reaction around the table was more dramatic than if I’d said the most obscene blasphemy.

Oct 30, 2006 - 12:53 pm 12. Luther McLeod:

miapulp

I literally “feel your pain”

“..they’re just checking to see if I’m come to my senses. I know they are baffled”

Same here, and I’m not even a self proclaimed Republican, as yet anyway. I just explained to everyone that I would be voting differently for awhile. You know, until the Dem’s took national security seriously again. But yet, I am sure the extended, and the not so extended, believe me to be certifiably insane.

But they never listen. They never acknowledge a single point I may make. Give and take is not a part of the dialog. It’s just amazing.

So, there is no longer talk re SRP at our gatherings either. Sad.

Oct 30, 2006 - 1:06 pm 13. Buddy Larsen:

…set the orthoducks to quacking, didja?

Oct 30, 2006 - 1:07 pm 14. stumbley:

Thank Gaia my extended fam is all right-wing baby-killing Bushitler youth.

When we get together, we all discuss how to build more churches with government money, stack the SCOTUS with reactionary justices, and how well our Halliburton stock is doing.

(Right after we light candles at the altar of St. Karl).

Oct 30, 2006 - 1:57 pm 15. Luther McLeod:

Buddy, you are way to clever for me Was I too extended?

Oct 30, 2006 - 2:37 pm 16. Old Dad:

I recently opined (at a family gathering) that I thought Halliburton was a well run company.

The lefties present did not grow angry, defensive, confused, or hurt. Rather, they were simply flabbergasted. They looked at me as if I had just grown a horn out of my forehead and claimed that Hillary Clinton ate aborted fetuses.

Oct 30, 2006 - 2:54 pm 17. Connecticut Yankee:

Fausta–

Been there too. The most hush-hush closet in New Haven is the one labeled GOP. (On the other hand, the Lieberman Dems now know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of political bile– lots of Lamont yard signs, in my part of town at least).

I have usually been able to defuse some of the tension with semi-humorous comments:
1) What, you don’t believe in diversity?
2) You need a little multiculturalism around here.
3) Why am I a Republican? Because I support minority rights at Yale.

and if all else fails:

4) How ’bout them Mets?

Oct 30, 2006 - 2:57 pm 18. Buddy Larsen:

Luther, naw, you aren’t overextended–you’re well within law.
:-\

Oct 30, 2006 - 3:10 pm 19. Barry Dauphin:

I have generally tried to avoid getting into things like this when at social gatherings. Talking politics leads to wanting to persuade others, which has little, if any, place at such times. Who goes to Thanksgiving dinner to be persuaded, whether it be about the war or to buy insurance from your brother-in-law. Family and social situations can be tense enough without that. If people have a way to talk politics without getting into promoting conformity, then by all means.

I was at a paper at the psychoanalytic society I belong to (yes, I know, say no more, nudge, nudge, wink, wink). The speaker shifts into talking about the war in Iraq and Bush (though it was a big stretch to make that shift). He catches himself and suddenly asks if there are any Bushies in the audience, realizing he had committed the usual lefty conceit, i.e., assuming everyone you are talking to agrees with you completely about politics. I raise my hand, the only raised hand in the place. He says he still considers me a friend and continues with the diatribe. I implicitly understand that made me persona non grata to some extent in the eyes of some. But I am president of the society and still got re-elected following that. Probably no one else wants to do the job.

Oct 30, 2006 - 4:02 pm 20. Luther McLeod:

Barry

Forgive my conceit for even remarking but, you are a well grounded man. Wasn’t it nice of the gentleman to still consider you a friend. How forgiving and magnanimous of him.

Yeah Buddy, the law’s when extended do consider me an outlaw. And there’s no in’s about it!

Oct 30, 2006 - 5:27 pm 21. Captain Hate:

Barry, what’s the likelihood that there were others in the room that felt that raising their hand wasn’t worth the potential ostracism?

Oct 30, 2006 - 6:48 pm 22. Ray Zacek:

You mean Hillary Clinton DOESN’T eat aborted fetuses? And what’s wrong with a horn? I consider mine a fashion statement.

Oct 30, 2006 - 7:16 pm 23. Barry Dauphin:

Luther,

Thanks. It’s interesting that it should have even been in question. Sometimes all one can do is chuckle.

Captain,

There’s surely some possibility of that, although I’m quite sure for some that being a “Bushie” (even the way it was expressed is amusing) is, in the words of Frank Costanza, “This, this… this isn’t my kind of guy.” Believe me, I felt quite nervous about raising my hand, but I knew I’d have felt worse if I hadn’t in that context.

Oct 30, 2006 - 7:33 pm 24. Roger:

Barry Dauphin, color me impressed. I doubt I would have had your courage in your place, even though I am (obviously) a blabbermouth. I do not, however, share your amusement at the term “Bushie”. Well, maybe I do in a dark way. But it never ceases to amaze me that these people think any of this is really about Bush. If it only it were.

Oct 30, 2006 - 8:29 pm 25. Barry Dauphin:

Thanks, Roger

It was a small bit of courage, but many others exhibit a lot more of it than me. Bush serves as the convenient repository for so much. I believe that many otherwise very smart people are completely indignant that this “dummy” is President (much like Reagan was vilified). What is sometimes amusing, but more often terrifying, is the spectrre of so many intelligent, “right thinking” folks communicating their political beliefs via slogans and the kind of cutesy soundbites they so often ridicule. I’m sure Herr Doktor Freud had a term for it-projection (Gesundheit!-ed). Or, perhaps, it was Anna, who actually put together the list of defense mechanisms. All in the family.

What I find so interesting, at times, is that the reasons for the war in Iraq and the WoT are actually quite complex, but whenever Bush begins to suggest any complexity, it’s all, “Bush lied”. I get enraged at times, but by itself that is not effective enough and not good for my health (mental and otherwise). So, I invest in making comments here, elsewhere and at our blog (started by commenters on Roger L. Simon.com) and contributing where I can to discussion and sending money for the vets and troops in the field.

Actually, I head to Pasadena this weekend for a psychoanalytic conference. We’ll see how brave/cowardly I am if things get started there. It’s right before the election. Last time I saw some of these folks, a few were equating Israel with Nazi Germany (and they were Jewish–yikes). It’s enough to want to make this currently agnostic, but Jesuit educated (including Latin & Greek) guy say, oy vey!

Oct 30, 2006 - 10:00 pm 26. Buddy Larsen:

Good point, Roger–to make the globe’s problems “all about Bush (and his Bushies)” is to hide in plain sight–to be fearful, yet too lazy to worry much–and too proud to see it.

Also, thought I’d mention that Barry–with his New Orleans ties–was one of the few people who early-on made any sense out of the Katrina event; the way the thing became what it is in the national memory.

Oct 31, 2006 - 6:02 am 27. Barry Dauphin:

Buddy,

You’re too kind. But since when have I ever made any sense :>)?

Oct 31, 2006 - 6:23 am 28. Buddy Larsen:

LOL–you’re asking me ?!

Oct 31, 2006 - 6:31 am 29. miapulp:

I thought the NY Times article was pretty good. So, in the spirit of reconciliation and because the article made the Dems look to be the most aggrieved parties, I sent it to both my sister and one of my more baffled used-to-be friends.

Nothing from my sister.

But I thought you all might enjoy the response from my used-to-be friend. I’m thinking he didn’t even read the article perhaps assuming it was from the Rush Limbaugh newsletter. Another hilarious twist of logic since I have NEVER quoted Rush or FOX news to him.

Okay. Here it is….

++++++++++++++++++++++

What I notice most often from the Right is an ostrich approach to reality. Suggest facts documented in book after book on every argument in their arsenal and they refuse to become aware, preferring to get what Rush and the fellas at Fox say or don’t mention about it.

There, to me, is no excuse for imposing ignorance on ones self for the sake of not coming off of an erroneous position. That’s what boggles me. It’s like Creationists refuting Darwin by refusing to examine what he actually says about natural selection and outlawing its teaching. This has spread to the political arena. I’d expect yahoos from the Bible Belt to be that way.

I would not expect self imposed ignorance from you. The truth has been published. Ignoring it keeps the murdering facists now maurading in your nation’s name in power. It’s that simple.

+++++++++++++++

Uh, if I weren’t so stoooooopid, I think I might feel like I was insulted therein….

But like they always tell me, ‘fascist is as fascist does.’ Shame drapes over my mortal soul.

Oct 31, 2006 - 9:09 am 30. Buddy Larsen:

I’d answer:

“Honey, you’re right, the truth *is* out there, and there *is* no excuse for self-imposed ignorance. On that we can agree!”

Oct 31, 2006 - 10:23 am 31. Foobarista:

The oddest conceit of the Left is that it is somehow “reality based”, while those who disagree with it somehow aren’t. I think this is because so many lefties think that all their opponents are Pat Robertson zombies, and it doesn’t occur to them that the vast majority of non-lefties are quite secular and are not infrequently trained in the sciences.

Even most devout Christians are willing to argue science as science and won’t drag religion into the debate unless a hot-button, religiously charged topic like abortion is being discussed.

Oct 31, 2006 - 2:04 pm

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