Liberté, égalité, fraternité -- I just entered your phrase in the search engine and voilà!
We prefer “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness!” -GP
For "proper province of government," I'm personally fond of life, liberty, and property (or "estate" as Locke said). Ensure those, we'll take care of happiness. Fraternité should follow, God willing.
Polls have a margin of error. What is the margin of cheating? Obviously, they only have to manipulate so-much in key states to secure the electoral votes, but how much of this Romney landslide are they going to have to negate? Flipside, how much of a landslide does it have to be to negate their cunning, pervasive cheating? Will 120% voter turnout in some places be necessary to re-elect the empty throne?
GAAAHHHHH! When it hits me that TOO CLOSE TO HALF OF AMERICANS not only think Barack Obama is the greatest thing since Christmastime Holiday red-creme filled Oreos (implication intended), it is only because I am so astonished, aghast, dumbfounded, and horrified to outright weep for the future.
[Jump to 1:45 or so:]
"Jeez, Mindful. I was just making a joke." Jeez back, Chrissy, I was kind-of (trying to be) joking back, even if I beat up on your joke to do so. Yes, the resemblance was funny. I should have put in more :)'s in my comment. I certainly am with you in the spirit of all you suggest about the 0!
Like metaphors and parables, jokes usually are better taken at face value, rather than straining at every gnat. So ignore the rest of this ramble, where I gniggle further. ;)
Theologically…
"...erroneous to say [Iknaton] was promoting monotheism in any sense that is comparable to Judaism...." I wonder whether the roots of Iknaton's monotheism, and Judaism's, may have had some consanguinity. Ik didn't imbibe the Big New Idea from traditional Egyptian teaching.
Elevation of concept from poly- to mono-theism certainly does not always include every good concept we have had revealed to us about Our Father, but to monotheists, at least the idea of "no other gods before Me" steps in the right direction. No guarantees (witness the hopelessness of monotheistic Islam), but generally speaking, "righter" beliefs bring souls a degree closer to God. Almost all the world's cultures, even if they don't become "converted to Christian," have been elevated by exposure to Christ's teachings.
Politically…
Ik's pushing monotheism suggests he was deprecating, if not practically abdicating, the divine Pharaonic position, which would fatally weaken fealty to his administration. That's why I say (and here I am beating up on your joke again), Obama might be more aptly compared to previous and later Pharaohs, the ones who more gladly and fully accepted their purported divine status… except that, I expect, despite the public portrayal, god-kings, Pharaoh, Caesar, or Emperor, usually understand the truth of their own actual mortality, and I'm not sure I could say that about the man who said being Dictator of China would be "easier." (Voted most likely to believe his own propaganda by 8 out of 10 fellow choomsters.)
Have I picked every gnit from this? No, wait, I still want to know if you meant to say "Akhenaten" was the wife of Nefertiti? :D
Had thoughts of my own along those lines, Hoot.
I make the playlists for myself, originally to download, and post a link to it here since others might (and apparently do) find 'em handy.
I always credit the playlists' raison d'être. A Pix page link's visible on every playlist page. With playlists, not much else can be done.
I made the playlists to download the vids more easily, but I've taken to watching them online. (Single YouTube vid pages won't play right on my computer, but as playlists they will; go figure!) Pete's picks and his sequence have fans at our house!
Ideally, in that world where we all had endless time and bountiful technical expertise, Pete could build his own playlists on the PoliNation YouTube account. I know exactly what kind of hassle that can be, though!
A single embedded playlist cuts down on "overhead" on a webpage, which might make a diff to some users. But Pete's comments are not available in a playlist. Well, at least, not without making something like little vids to put between each vid, like silent movie cards with Pete's comments on them. Believe me, I've thought about it.
http://mindfulwebworks.com/radical/ic-large-pistol-pete-comments.jpg
Ol' Iknaton (forgive my politically incorrect Egyptian spelling) gets a bad rap because he elevated the Sun God to represent Supreme Deity, but that crazy, starry-eyed dreamer was trying to impose the outlandish idea of One God "before all others," in one generation, to an entrenched polytheism. Yes, the media reported it as his "trampling on the religious rights" -- monotheism threatened the myriad vested interests in other deities, and when Ik was gone, they quickly got back to business as usual. Seriously, force was how things were done, one way or another back then. He failed because he didn't trample on polytheism enough, you see. The seed of Monotheism had to arise elsewhere, and luckily Monotheism was never spread by force again. :P
So I don't find the comparison all that apt. Unwise, both of them, yeah, impolitic in many ways, no doubt. Same could be said about many a well-intentioned but incompetent leader or official. History needs to cut Ik some slack.
Also, were you consciously making an oblique dig at the peculiar relationship between Barack and Michelle when you wrote that Iknaton was the wife of Nefertiti, or was it just unconscious? (Mrs Mindful pointed that out. I completely missed it.)
Nefertiti was allegedly gorgeous, but if all you had was media reports, you'd think Michelle was a classy dresser, too. Rumor has it Nefertiti didn't go for oversize belts, although she had some nearly-British taste in headgear.
There’s an old saying about writing, I’ve certainly found true. Throw out your first and last chapter (or equivalent depending on length). Nothing against the thought. Were I an editor, I’d suggest the last line should have been left to the reader’s imagination. My 2¢ worth of criticism on a truly glad-to-have-it story.
October 23, 2012 in Denver, ColoradoAs the governor was en route to the amphitheatre they were told the crowd was showing “strong numbers”. What greeted him was a lot more than just “strong numbers” though. It was a massive wave of thousands and thousands of supporters. Before going on the governor apparently peeked out a few times and was shaking his head in disbelief at just how many people were there to see him. He was told by organizers up to a thousand more were turned away because there simply wasn’t any room left. People said you could feel the size of the crowd under your feet backstage. Somebody had passed out a ton of “thundersticks” and the people were banging them together and making this amazing rumbling noise. There were some real veteran campaigners backstage and I’m told they were all blown away by this crowd in Colorado. It really was like some big time rock show. Just a huge response for the governor.
So Governor Romney goes onstage and gives his speech. The crowd just totally embraces him. From beginning to end. Every word. They are fired up. Loud. Positive. Cheering. Just an amazing moment for the campaign. Everybody backstage were all smiles and peeking out at all those people and shaking their heads. This is the kind of moment in a campaign you never forget. Ever. Nobody who hasn’t experienced it can really understand this feeling. You’re looking at a candidate being transformed right in front of your eyes into the next Leader of the Free World. They go from being human into something just a bit more. It’s all those people. That energy. It kind of fills the candidate up and makes them bigger than life. And you are watching it happen in real time. Right then.
The governor returns backstage and he is smiling and shaking hands, taking congratulations from everybody around him. He’s saying how great it was. Somebody yells out he’s going to win Colorado and the governor laughs and says he thinks so too. And then something very interesting happens. He moves away from the group of people just a bit. Maybe ten or fifteen feet or so. Just enough to have a little space to himself. And enough people notice that the area gets a lot more quiet, and they are trying to watch the governor without looking like they are watching the governor. They can all kind of tell something is happening right then. It was described as something very peaceful and powerful that came over that backstage area for a moment. And the governor, he lowers his head and his eyes shut tight and you could see him take a slow deep breath and then he lets it out and says quietly, but just loud enough for some to hear, “Lord, if this is your will, please help to make me worthy. Please give me the strength Lord.” And then his eyes open up, and he’s back to smiling and laughing and shaking hands and being the candidate once again.
I’m 100% convinced Mitt Romney was shaken to his soul right then and there. I think at that moment it was sinking in he might really be the next American president, and it humbled him right to his core, in every nerve of his body. And as he was saying that little prayer, you could hear the sound of thunder from all those thundersticks outside. Like this huge low rumble that just surrounded all of them at once. A quiet little prayer, and the sound of thunder.
The sound of God.
Belated still-catching up LOL’s on “filled an entire parking space.” Tha’s funnee.
I killed O! I killed Gadaffy! I am a killer!
First thought was, photomanipulated? The triangle of the dress being stretched looked darker, possibly faked. But I found another photo of the moment. so I guess it's legit.
Second thought, "so self-absorbed, even when looking down, he doesn't notice he is stepping on his wife's dress." You're making adult assumptions about the kid. Think teasing grade-school mentality, and you realize he's doing it on purpose! ;)
Mindful Daughter suggests, Obama has a deal with her dressers. She can never look better than he does.
"Maybe black women are just not so conscious of how they look from the rear." Errrmmm.... *cough* actually, it's a cultural difference.
"May your hit count shoot through the roof!"
“I'm never going to be famous. My name will never be writ large on the roster of Those Who Do Things. I don't do any thing. Not one single thing. I used to bite my nails, but I don't even do that any more.” —Dorothy Parker
(Good one, eh? No, I didn't have that taped up on my office wall. Found it, after a few seconds of websearch, at ThinkExist.com/Quotations. Teh webz iz so kewl!)
Ehhh... obviously having too much free time today, I re-posted my ramble at my site, considerably adorned with links, graphics, and videos. (Warning: many impedded vids.) Linked to chrissy's message above which inspired me (but she should not be held accountable!!), and incorporating the graphic up top and an earlier CtH graphic. Well, I had fun, anyway.
• chrissythehyphenated October 20, 2012 at 11:52 pm
ROFLLLLLLLLLLLL the Star Trek clip is hysterical!! And that is one of my all time fave Palin moments. ::snort:: I gotta go send your link out. WONDERFUL job Mindful. … better tone down my hooting. Dearest is sleeping. Oops.
• Bob October 21, 2012 at 8:54 am
That’s hilarious, Mindful! Thanks for the laughs!
• chrissythehyphenated October 21, 2012 at 3:18 pm
I sent it out to my list and Dearest told me this morning he was passing it on to about a hundred of his own contacts, many of whom are forwarders themselves. May your hit count shoot through the roof!
The Reverse-Alinsky should be in UrbanDictionary.
R-A has become the very theme of Obama campaign. Kindergardeners know is as "I'm rubber and you're glue...." Like every time Joe Biden opens his mouth, we just keep exclaiming, "they really said that?" and "this is not the Onion?" and "are they trying to lose?" and especially "It’s kinda dumb of them to even mention it since it gives us so many opportunities to remind voters…!"
From Winning The Future to binders of women, the Obama campaign has been a Romney-Ryan PAC. Romney's pension? Whoops, Obama's is bigger and, whoops! invests in China. War on women? Whooops. Might as well have tried that war on dogs thing again. Pretending they meant act of terror right from the Rose Garden? Whoops! Two weeks of video of all of them saying otherwise brakes their spin. By the time they get down to projecting all their worst, most nightmarish intentions upon the other side, they have beclowned themselves into a state of complete laughingstockery, devolved to a state for which all but the blinded cultists just have pity and contempt.
And speaking of Reverse-Alinsky, here's
RULE 5: “Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
(To the tune of Peter Paul & Mary's 500 miles...)
An empty chair / An empty chair / An empty chair / An empty chair
An empty chair because nobody's really there….
I've watched these several times (each time someone new walked in the room!). This was a real "debate," equal time, uninterrupted, and free-form. Best of the series!
Romney cut deep into the quick with a velvet sword, smiling and looking almost bashful. If Mitt stumbled, it was when he delivered a harsh punch line too quickly, as if he didn't want to be too cruel to poor old out-of-his-league Barack.
Obama practically did Romney's work for him, but old golden throat's timing did not compare; he stuuuhhh-ttered twice in the first sentence. His audience was not as properly responsive as his usual sycophant squad. He really only seemed comfortable with those few good jokes that were not at his own expense.
Romney was self-effacing and genuinely funny; Obama, painfully, reminded us at practically every turn of everything that's wrong with himself and his abysmal administration. It wasn't so much funny as it was astonishing that he didn't incinerate on the spot from embarrassment.
That one point (1:08 in the video above), before O goes into the Cuomo joke, turn up the volume. He could be just kind-of saying uhhhhh real low, but he growls! I'd almost think this was comparable to a newsreader who was just handed a story, the behavior of a person who hadn't seen any of these jokes until he was in the middle of delivery! I got the impression he was ready to eviscerate the writer, but give the old faker props, he masked it all the way through a remarkably self-destroying speech.
I even wondered if they had the same speechwriter!
Evenin'! Denouncing myself in advance for this one.
Logprof October 17, 2012 12:20 AM:
--Please don't take it personally, but your site kinda sucks.
Damn, man! I came back the next morning to graze upon late ONT comments and found this harshness.
:Sad Face: sucks Yes, yes, you're right. Much of it probably does. My oft-neglected eclectic vanity site's just a dumping ground for my lifetime of Tourette's-like doodling, dittys, and diatribes.
:Sadder Face: The site's pretty much all my doing, from the tiniest picture to the entire site design, so it's kind-of hard not to take criticism personally.
:Scream Face: I shall now proceed to take down my site, burn all backups, hack all archives on the web, destroy all evidence it ever existed, and never go on the web again, so devastated with shame am I.
Oh. Wait! Wait! :Sudden realization: To be dissed by one of the horde is higher honor than the praise of mere mortals!!!11!! Therefore, I have emblazoned this comment across the top of my front page and several section pages.
/tongue-in-cheek
My joking invite set meself up for that one, I s'pose, but didn't I tell you ignore the content, just send money? I appreciate criticism, but constructively-wise, one is left wondering what part of teh suck, one is.
/whaatever
"Could you be more specific"?
/candycritter AAAGGGHHHH
morsux: The VP Animals' Debate http://bit.ly/ani-db
PoliNation's Pistol Pete's Pix Playlist 2012 Oct 18
15 videos, 20:38
Just watched the playlist and... wow! I've got to show that last video to my 92yo mom. She may not have a Packard, but she still drives. (Like a teenager, but she always has.) Thanks for that one, Pete!
The "Town Hell" debate had an audience of undecided voters. They were undecided how many votes they wanted to cast for Obama.
I followed the debate on Ace's live-blog, marveling at what happens when the millions of us monkeys are unleashed on interconnected typewriters.
One of the questioner's was announced onscreen and in what seemed like seconds, some commenter posted a link to that (likely that) person's FaceBook page.
The moment the Benghazi Spin was spun, links to transcripts and videos of the Rose Garden announcement were posted, and I gather the same was happening all over the blog- and tweet- and etc-o-spheres.
Reports on what the CNN live-time response meters were showing were occasionally announced, and reactions from Luntz (sp?) group were summarized in the live-blog comments. They watched so I didn't have to, I just got the cream.
"Investigative journalism" by the grassroots, propagated by a thousand trusted blogs, is powerful stuff, and only getting powerfulllier.
As before, the GOP videos were on YouTube practically while the candidates were still mingling with the audience.
'Twas not thus in days of yore!
I dig it.
If foggy memory serves, I watched the premiere of the original Space:1999, dropped it with whatever passed for "meh" back then, and never looked back. (Even when my sons told me the redo was watchable. What do they know? They liked Star Wars. Get off my lawn!) Okay, I might've given Space:1999 two episodes.
I recognize Space Ghost, but never watched it. I'd gathered he was some kind of campy space-hero toon, Johnny Quest-level kid adventures, but then I got confused one day catching SG on some kind of talk-show format? What th..? ;)
So, for all my decades of comics and SF indulgence, those two are outside my experience.
The great thing about your covers, like reading Mad send-ups of movies you'd never watch, familiarity doesn't matter. I enjoyed this as much as any with more-familiar characters.
Like others where one universe is watching the other on a vidscreen, this cover has a stronger concept than execution, but it's all good -- I LOL'd just to read the title on the feed item, and clicked over immediately to have a look!
I subscribe. I expect IOTW goodliness. I click on the top item. This. I watch.
I want my 15 seconds back! :)
