Surrender is Easier Than Resistance

Pat Robertson is being trumpeted by the Mainstream Media for now supporting the legalization of marijuana:

“I just think it's shocking how many of these young people wind up in prison and they get turned into hard-core criminals because they had a possession of a very small amount of controlled substance,” he said on his show. “The whole thing is crazy.”

So, instead of condemning a few people to prison for drug possession, Pat's now advocating condemning even more people to the prison of substance abuse. I have often wondered what blend of Orwell (1982) and Huxley (Brave New World)our culture would become, and we're skewing Huxley at the moment, with our Malthusian Drill, gratification culture, and enthusiasm for escapist substance abuse.

I've indicated before that Pat's open mic is not helping Christians anymore. It's truly time for him to retire.

America LOVES Failure

Two pointless incidents which americans, and their media vending machines, have turned into a stomach-turning, ubiquitous display of our crass interests.

a) The stunning blather of a beauty pageant contestant. Hey folks, she was on the spot, probably with a prepared comment in her mind, and was thrown a curveball. What I heard was a young person thinking with their mouth open. How merciless are we becoming, as a society, when brief moments of our humanity are suddenly national news, and something we're forever marked by.

b) The more lurid accusations and circumstances that a certain U.S. Senator has found himself in. Like Ted Haggard before him, Larry Craig has not made the "I'm a Gay American" speech, ala Jim McGreevey, which makes the militant gay lobby that hounds him even the more enraged. Really. The nerve of this guy, trolling public restrooms for gay sex, but voting against gay interests. Craig's denials make it sound as if being gay is something to be ashamed of, and our society won't tolerate that. That's why the media is being so merciless.

The Democrat-controlled congress is even going to spend some precious Ethics Committee time to further explore the issue, further cementing the idea that democrats are more interested in fanning scandals than actually accomplishing anything.

Keel-Haul the Scurvy Lot

Pirates are a hot topic these days, and folks are trying to cash in on a salvaged pirate ship display in Tampa, Florida. Oh, but here cometh the baggage:

But before pirates hijacked the Whydah, which sank in 1717, it had been a slave ship, and when leaders of Tampa's black community learned of the vessel's full history late last year, they were outraged.

Ahh yes, it had to be something like that, didn't it?

Many black ministers, lawyers, businessmen and academics here argue that the city's eagerness to embrace the Whydah pirate complex without asking blacks for advice was insulting.

You just cannot avoid insulting someone who is ever seeking insult. And after the outrage is leveraged by the media coverage, the claim of insult pays off:

From a strictly economic point of view, the Whydah could help "create a critical mass of tourism and convention destinations that would be a real magnet," Mr. Schmitt said. Equally important, it would create some 350 permanent jobs as well as hundreds of construction jobs, some of which backers of the project have said they will guarantee go to blacks.

Talk about piracy, eh? Well it's following the tradition of the ship in question:

On its maiden voyage, the Whydah carried slaves from West Africa to Jamaica, then was hijacked by Samuel Bellamy, the pirate known as Black Sam.

Dr. Christopher E. Hamilton, the salvage project's principal archeologist, said research by his team indicated the pirates were an international, multiracial crew who voted on major decisions and shared loot fairly equally...

Mr. Bernstein, however, remains undeterred. "It is a remarkable and compelling irony that blacks and whites lived together as equals on board this pirate ship," he said.

So let me get this straight. African slaves were freed, who then went straight to the vocation of piracy, with the attendant activities of murder and robbery. That doesn't sound like something the black community should be celebrating... oh, wait:



h/t NPR & NYT