Oh my god. Lord of the Rings is a "pagan fantasy world"? Kill me now -- I can't take it any more. In the Corner Stanley Kurtz says this in an aside in a post about the possible decline of Christmas observation in an increasingly secular world. I look forward to all the Tolkien admirers on NRO tearing Kurtz a new one for this -- probably in vain, since it was just an aside.
(Link via open book.)
Update: well, here's Kurtz's reaction to emails containing, among other things, complaints about this -- but unfortunately they were from stupid (okay, less informed) people saying "it's a catholic (sic) allegory." And Kurtz just reiterates his shtick: LOTR has a "pagan veneer." Asshead. LOTR has a Christian veneer. See, unlike members of some other religions Christians (or at least, Christians like Tolkien) don't dismiss the time pre-Crucifixion as a to-be-ignored "time of ignorance." Instead, they are forever trying to see signs of God's presence in the pre-Christian past; some go so far as to call the other sacrificial cults (that involved Christ-like deities who became human and were slain, etc.) and so on of pre-Christian times evidence of the "foreshadowing" of the Incarnation. Is it so strange to think that Tolkien looked at his imaginary past through a Christian outlook, and certainly did not mean for all the pagan-like cultish behavior that has sprung up among his fans (and which I am guessing are the real source of Kurtz's "pagan veneer" remarks) to be the result of reading his story? Oh whatever -- I am beginning to think it is no use.
PS: I went ahead and opened comments -- I need you to berate me for my nasty, druggie, uterus-having ways.
You must -- no really, you must -- take a gander at this laughably bad LOTR rip-off, a flash animation by BushRecall.com, done in crappy sub-Hanna-Barbera style. Oh yea, I'm so convinced by this compendium of ancient clichés to vote against "Gollum Dubya Bush."
Via Tim Blair.
Well. Refusing to laugh at Jessica Lynch, now that she has gone on to fame and fortune, instead of -- what? committing suicide? -- means you have no sense of humor, are too stuck up, or are blinded by one's hegemonical warmongering need to be a hater, or anyway something that means you are uncool and won't be invited to all the Kool Kidz bong parties. (See the comments to Jarvis' post.) Score.
Forget my previous entry.* John Cole is furious at Dennis Kucinich, and after viewing the ad in question, so am I. Did you know that Bush is sending soldiers to die just so he and his oilbuddies can make lots of money? This claim has been making the rounds of sites like DemocraticUnderground.org (or whatever the hell it is called, that forum full of conspiracy nuts that I refuse to link directly to), but I didn't think that anyone actually in government would dare give that idea credence. I underestimated what some Democratic Party candidates will do to scrape up a vote or two. The senator Ohio state representative seems to have decided to go for that crucial Screaming Moonbat vote, which seems to be confined to the arty districts of a few major cities on the west coast.
Kucinich, whose web page builds him up to be the political equivalent of Barney the Purple Dinosaur, shows us the fist inside the velveteen glove. I'm disgusted but not surprised; I always knew that hippy freako peace addicts who spout infantile spew like this were rotten at the core. The only comforting thing I can think of is that he will have lost any chance of getting anywhere near the presidency with this little stunt; I hope he enjoys his teensy percentage. Sometimes I think the idea that absolute power corrupts absolutely is not quite right; rather it seems to be the desire for power that corrupts -- and also often makes one stupid.
PS: oh, let's leave comments open and see what happens. I'm bored tonight.
*Actually, don't forget my previous entry. Lots of good stuff there too! You are growing sleeepy... you will read my entire blog one entry at a time...
A new post, a new category. Hey, Christmas comes but once a year. And so does Thanksgiving. Say, have you heard the one about the fake turkey? Looks like Bush really is Hitler then!
Jesuschrist I have just one thing to say to the highly paid and Very Important Guardians of the Press:
By the way, I had the same attitude towards the people obsessed with Bill Clinton's penis and all the places it had been during the Hugest Absolute Hugest Oh No Presidents Have Ever Had Illicit Sex In the White House Before We Are Shocked Yes Shocked Scandal Ever. So you can think about something else to snark at me about. Try being a little original maybe.
And last of all, no I was not jaded about the perambulations of Billy's willy because I am all blasé about adultery; I was irritated that there were so many other worse things the Great He was up to than playing hide-the-cigar with Monica. But people went ahead and wasted valuable time trying to get him to admit "is" meant "is" when they could have been investigating more important things. Oh well, all babies have to eat, and newspapers have to sell. Whatever.
(Via a small victory.)
