anti-smoking ads

They've gotten more gruesome but the latest one, some woman who lost the tips of her fingers, now they're just stubs, has something to do with bone shear but I would hazard a week's salary and go out on a limb here and say the vast majority of smokers know it's bad for you, ok, so knowing this they've made their choice so what's the point of all these ads? I thought we were pro-choice here.

Alot of African news going on

Don't know if you 've heard, it was the smallest squib in the NY Post somewhere in the middle yesterday, but the other day a U.S. Navy ship in the Indian Ocean launched some cruise missiles deep into Somalia killing the al-Qaeda leader there, the notorious 30-old Aden Hashi Ayro. Also killed were Ayro's brother and ten of his top lieutenants. Then there's Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his refusal to step down graciously after losing an important election to the leader of the opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change. Mugabe of the ZANU-PF party says it was 47.9% to 43.2% in which close case there's supposed to be some kind of run-off or something but Tsvangirai says he won by 50.3% and therefore things were rigged. Elsewhere there's a critical food shortage in Malawi, the main meal everyday from aide workers consists basically of your porridge, no Mickie D's or pizza joints over there. As a sidenote someone once gave me a small bag of Malawi gin, not bad.

It's not all about Paula, Miley, Britney, UMA, Lindsay or Jeremiah. There be another world out there and I'm glad to see the Bush Administration not so exclusively focused on Iraq anymore, there are many al-Qaeda cells in Africa, there have been embassies bombed there but it's all about "The Insider" these days and who crooner John Mayer is bedding or Patrick Dempsey being named by "People" magazine as sexiest man alive. So kudos to the Newshour with Jim Lehrer for their heavy focus on African issues recently, too bad even they were forced to cover Eliot Spite-zer's sex life not that long ago but they were forced to since he was a sitting governor, it's not like they had a panel discussion on Paula's Idol confusion (no, not one of us ever woke up not knowing what day it was or forgot somebody's name at work). Tabloid journalism, it's like when you were young and your Mom said to eat an orange when there's a box of Devil Dogs on top of the breadbox.

Would you argue with God?

or why even conservatism tends towards moral relativism in the end, aka liberalism

Steamtable Catholicism got me thinking. I mentioned there that even many of those staunch conservative and tradition-minded Catholics don't care to fully partake of that item known as Catholic Just War Doctrine which, honestly applied, holds that the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was ethically wrong. Has nothing to do with politics per se, one very important principle of the Church's teaching is that you cannot deliberately target innocent civilian populations in time of war, ok. Now I would hazard a guess most modern-day conservatives support Truman's action but the question before the board today is this - would you argue with God? Put another way, let's say when we go before God someday he kindly explains to us that by His Divine Reckoning that particular action was grossly immoral, would we still stubbornly hold to our positions and even argue the point before Him or would we humbly admit our mistake and errors in our moral reasoning? It's a rhetorical, theoretical question and can be applied to any issue under the sun, I'm using this one today because of the vast majorities who still say we did the right thing. The arguments advanced for the bombing all smack of moral relativism, pragmatism and I really need not repeat them here, the salient point being most people don't seem to care but what does God think? Shouldn't the moral compass of a religious and spiritual nation be higher than this?

Would you argue with God? (Honorable mention goes to conservative thinkers Joe Sobran, Pat Buchanan and the late Russell Kirk for opposing the use of the Bomb)

Row row row your boat

Maybe the Rev. Wright is really a closet Hillary supporter. Political reporter Fred Dicker over at the NY Post says he's bitter over Obama's "betrayal" and that's why he unloaded the other day. Whatever, some friends just have a penchant for always embarrassing you. Fished with a guy once on a large lake, two nice girls were sunbathing on a large rock and we were fishing in the area. Nice time to strike up a conversation, no? But I know how the guy is, with a couple beers under his belt the guttural slob side comes out so I just ignored the situation and rowed as far away from them as possible (if need be I had my line down pat: "No, I don't know this guy. He's homeless and I just picked him up. I'm dropping him off at the bridge so he can hitch a ride."). So what Obama needs to do, when the Rev. has a few Snapples and has to pull into shore to use a tree Obama needs to shove his johnboat off when he's not looking and just strand him there and continue rowing rowing rowing. Yeah, when he's finished and he zips himself up Obama will see him in the distance yelling and screaming and waving his arms but this is supposed to be a serious campaign, no? So the wind be against you brother, a little more muscle on that left oar.

You go girl!

Reading about Anucha Brown Sanders going crazy at some auction, bidding on everything in sight, she of suing Isiah Thomas for sexual harassment fame, and there's nothing like 11 mil to make your pain go away and I've been wondering is this progress? Feminists have had their day in the sun but I think much of sexual harassment law actually encourages women to see themselves as victims and I don't see how this empowers women. Celebs taking their secret admirers to court, now the UMA guy is a certified nutbag but what I really think bothers these gals is they don't want some average Joe going after them, they'd rather have Denzel or Leo DiCapricio, I mean DiCaprio. Was Anita Hill a pioneer or did she set women back? and whatever happened to that time-honored tradition of just slapping a man across his face? You see the morning paper gives z a little agita. Anucha, go easy with your windfall, you're making your sisters look bad.

More on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright,

Now the z-man blog is all about having a different angle and so it seems to me righties can criticize American society all they want, Malkin can bash our pornofied culture to her heart's content and yet her patriotism is never called into question, ditto Maggie Gallagher and our divorce culture, Laura Ingraham and our abortion culture and yet I agree much with what all three have to say on these matters. Lefties can't do this though over their pet issues like economic, social and racial injustice and so it seems to me the right to criticize your own country cuts one way which is not to say the Rev. Wright is not radical and bombastic but I'm just trying to make sense of our current political climate. Maybe it has to do more with the way we express ourselves, after all Laura has never called for the bombing of abortion clinics on her side of the aisle, and the Right generally being critical of conspiracy theories in general (so what Mad Scientist invented the AIDS virus pray tell?). But since we be on the subject of conspiracy theories why doesn't the Rev. Wright give a major speech on the origins of Planned Parenthood, the racism of its founder Margaret Sanger and why doesn't he see the abortion of black babies as a silent form of genocide? There's alot on the plate here so chow down!

The AmChurch

Bob Novak, in today's column, talks about some major Catholic pro-abortion politicians who received Communion during the two masses celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI during his six-day stay here. They are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sens. John Kerry, Christopher Dodd and Edward M. Kennedy on the Democratic side and Rudolph Guiliani on the RINO side. The three Dems received the sacred host at Nationals Park in Washington courtesy of Archbishop Donald Wuerl there and Guiliani at Yankee Stadium courtesy of New York Cardinal Edward Egan although I heard on the radio just now that Egan says he was against Guiliani's action and agrees with the Pope's declaration on the matter. I call this the Bob Novak Effect, just like when he nailed Hillary and her plans to get and broadcast dirt on Obama and she immediately denied that so now Cardinal Egan is saying, in so many words, that this impeccable and well-respected journalist of many decades standing has his facts wrong. As I keep saying there's the official Roman Catholic Church headed by the pope in the Eternal City with its official and unchangeable doctrines and dogmas and then there's the AmChurch (American Church). Gotta love that Bob Novak Effect though, it's off the hook.

What I don't get...

...is many of the same African-Americans who are today condemning and denouncing the verdict in the Sean Bell case once were cheering and overjoyed when O.J. was acquited.

Why a Hillary vs. McCain contest could swing towards Hillary

To begin even his most "ardent" conservative supporters readily admit he's not 100% or 80% or even 70% conservative,

ERGO (big Latin word for "therefore"),

he has a liberal side which leads me to believe that many of those voters who are liberally disposed, either center or left-of-center would go for him, ergo they might figure if we go for him why don't we just go for her? Ronald Reagan, now he was a bona-fide conservative (for the most part, yeah I'm aware of the deficits rung up during the Reagan years) and he attracted a mainly conservative vote, even those blue-collar Dems who crossed party lines were also social conservatives but the punditocracy (of which z is a member now I guess) says that McCain will garner all kinds of votes. Like maybe the Republican Party, aka the Stupid Party, is shooting itself in the foot over this one and when he loses he'll be hawking Viagra too in a couple years like what's his name? I know this liberal guy, he's a hardcore Democrat and a good friend, and we were talking one day at work, this was a couple years before even these primaries, and he said he wouldn't mind seeing McCain in the Oval Office one day, he was the one who brought up the subject and he went further and said he'd even vote for him, now what does that say?

Jimmy Carter still thinks he's president

So I see his picture in the paper today, all serious and pensive like a sitting president, and he's been trying to broker a big Mideast peace package by, among other things, talking to the leader of the terrorist group Hamas. Must miss the Anwar Sadat/Menachem Begin days but I'm beginning to think we have a budding syndrome on our hands here just waiting for a name, ex-presidents who can't just retire and go away and hit the links but

get involved,

perhaps in his own mind he still sees himself as a great president, dunno, maybe this is one symptom of the syndrome as yet to be named but it annoys, geez guy, gas lines were high, 'member? and you took in a whole boatload or two or three of rogue criminals from Cuba courtesy of ole Fidel, go home and rent a classic movie, know what I'm sayin'?

RETIRE ALREADY!!!

Robowhat?

Yup, the young people be experimenting with the cough medicines. New term for Webster, robotripping as in taking well beyond the recommended dosage of such cough medicines as Robitussin, say 20, 30 or even 50 liquid gels. Read an article about this the other day, more and more young people are doing this to get high, to go on a trip, but then their blood pressure skyrockets, they're totally out of it and usually some nurse or doctor then calls the bewildered parents who had no idea. The age is getting stranger by the day, used to be the biggie was pot. I never got the whole trip thing, I mean whatever personal problem you're tripping from is going to be right back there foursquare and center when you get back. Must be bored, they're not out playing baseball and fishing anymore, that's too Fred MacMurrayish I guess. So watch out for all those robotrippers out there, the newest and youngest members of our zombie-fied culture.

Pope Benedict's remarks at youth rally

This was in my neck of the woods, St. Joseph's Seminary in the big YO on April the 19th on a lovely Saturday, would've loved to have gone but watched it on TV just the same. Closed-captioning is wonderful, it helps not just the hard of hearing but all of us. I was able to enjoy a fine cigar outside on the patio while reading Pope Benedict's inspiring words on the screen while looking through the window. One of his main messages to these young people was this era of moral confusion we live in and what he called "the manipulation of the mind" that produces this moral confusion. He did not mention the a-word (abortion) or any other specific word for that matter since he deliberately seems to have cultivated a pastoral style that goes to first principles in a generalized way in the hopes of making us more amenable to the Church's teachings, he wants to get beyond the NO-NO-NO part as he is fond of saying but we all know what he's talking about. One passage in particular struck me and he seems to have purposely evoked the Message of Fatima as his predecessor often did: "The second area of darkness - that which affects the mind - often goes unnoticed and for this reason is particularly sinister. The manipulation of truth distorts our perception of reality and tarnishes our imagination and aspirations...yet freedom is a delicate value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness we all expect it to yield but to a dark arena of manipulation in which our understanding of self and the world becomes confused and distorted by those who have an ulterior agenda." It's as if this is Benedict's own theological explanation for part of the Message of Fatima wherein the Virgin Mary says to Lucia: "Look my child, don't be surprised if, at a certain moment, a certain diabolical disorientation affects the best of minds, a disequlibrium, so that they no longer judge according to the voice of my Son and of Peter." What better way to describe the times we now live in?

The best way I can describe Pope Benedict's birthday

healing, a balm, it's something we as a nation who suffered through 9/11 really needed. The news is always bad, always has been, seems ratings thrive on bad news, his papal visit coinciding with his 81st birthday, it's like just what the doctor ordered. I am usually not big on pomp and circumstance, though I wasn't there in person the sheer pageantry on the South Lawn of the White House yesterday I really enjoyed. Weatherwise the perfect day too, it's like God was smiling. 'Tis a simple blog today, Life in general is bad enough, I just found it healing is all.

Mean People

They could be people in general, many times they're bosses and I'm not talking about somebody having a bad day. It takes such an effort to be this way, it saps you of your energy and ain't good for your health, what purpose does it serve exactly to be known as a toxic person if I were sitting them down for an interview. Rational bosses are known to get more out of their employees, the respect trickles down but what do mean people in general garner? So how do mean people see themselves? do they have an inkling? Even Scrooge came around after a time so wassup?

A divorce culture is a depressed culture

a working theory of mine, I could be wrong so go easy, I've been known to think out loud here a few times. Used to be you'd go to the pharmacy for your flu medicine or whatever and there might be a handful of people on line, just recently I went to shop at a Walgreen's and the parking lot was jam-packed as it always is, turns out many of them were on line to see the pharmacist, it looked like Ticketron for a minute, young and old, didn't matter. Our society is not whole imo, it's not really intact, emotional issues and baggage are the order of the day, unresolved issues, routine divorce, abortion an everyday occurence, ergo more problems. Now z would much rather see people take more natural routes to these things, a more holistic approach but I can't judge them either, people are tired of being tired, tired of being depressed, tired of whatever and so here's something, has a few side effects but let's try it. Z's point is a conservative society would be a better society, a healthier society, divorce being rare only when necessary, forgiveness, resolving issues for a change, abortion being more or less a relic of the past, families helping each other out in times of need instead of this one not talking to that one for 20 years...we ain't livin' right, and if it wasn't just cats and babies who slept right and never got depressed might there be less of a line at Walgreen's?

The Hitchens bug is going around

Obama has put conservatives on the couch, blue-collar workers he said are bitter about life due to economic conditions and so they often turn to things like religion and become pro-gun, anti-trade and anti-immigrant. Hillary blasted back calling him an elitist and says she learned as a kid how to shoot a gun, he makes an Annie Oakley and duck-blind comment which was actually quite funny, gone is the old Obama of political civility, Jay Leno could have written this one. This is it folks, the 12th round, the 9th inning and word has it, according to Bob Novak, that her "ousted" political advisor Mark Penn still has her ear. This is really fun entertaining stuff and I only wish we had this on the Republican side but that one was over way too early imo. The Hitchens Virus, it's a bug that first starts up, well you know where, and it concerns all things religious and revered through the ages. Don't hate, participate.

DONAHUE

He's been retired for years now, after his seminal talk show finally went off the air, well he had no choice what with the Big O and all, he hooked up with MSNBC with a more political type show that failed and now he's made an anti-Iraq war movie, "Body of War." So here's what's up with Phil, he wants to be relevant again like in the good old days when he'd have on his show some sexually active grandmother and he takes her hand and says "God bless you grandma" all at 4:30 in the afternoon when the kids just got home from school and Mom's making some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some "more Ovaltine Mom" in the kitchen. It's like this, everyone has either a talk show or a blog these days, hell the local dogcatcher even has a blog, so Phil sees everyone on the bridge with their fishing poles leaning against the rails and sitting on their white buckets that they keep the snappers in and he

wants to get in there too,

"Hey buddy, can I have a cold one? How's the action?" "Pretty damn good, everyone's gotten something today, guy's got a monster blue over there" so he runs home and gets his spincaster, hasn't used it in awhile and hopes the line still holds, it's old and so he squeezes himself in next to the other anglers, "hey, is that Joe Scarborough?", only thing is he ain't catching anything, everything he does post-retirement is a big fat flopperoony.

So I hear Bill's been defending Hillary's version of sniper fire in Bosnia and she's like it ain't helping, darling dearest hubby why don't you STFU?

Daughtry has a nice sound

Went up the line yesterday way up in the sticks, packed a few miles on the car, kinda my version of a retreat aka a daytrip, had the station tuned and on came a few hits by Daughtry, just one of many stars flung off that fiery pinwheel known as "American Idol." Has a nice sound to it like he was born to do what he's doing, has a heavy touch of angst to his lyrics not in a depressing way but haunting just the same, hard to put into a genre (philosophical rock?) but perfect for a long trip. I'm going with Michael Johns on this season, caught him midthrough but saw enough to know he should win hands down. So far through these many seasons though nobody has that unique trademark sound like a Daughtry, he's like Steve Perry of Journey, other singers may be great but they don't have that extra hard-to-put-down-in-words quality, count me a fan.

Finally, a Hollywood celebrity who gets it

There is something refreshing about Richard Gere's support for the Tibetan democracy movement, shows you don't always have to support socialist and communist regimes like Cuba. Michael Moore & co., wanna jump on board?

Talking and shilling

Time was talk radio was the new kid on the block, unwelcome by the liberal msm for counterbalancing their liberal bias, but it's like it became so infatuated with itself and its political influence it began losing sight of its original goal. Rush was fresh and funny when he first started out, his political parodies were first-rate but now he's just a rubber-stamp for everything Bush especially on the immigration problem. And as for Sean, well a week or so ago a caller called up asking him but what about McCain's own pastor problem and while Sean didn't dismiss such concerns outright he downplayed it by drawing a sharp line of distinction between Obama's own pastor problem and McCain's, his reasoning being that the Rev. John Hagee isn't McCain's personal minister/spiritual advisor but this misses the point imo. By his warm acceptance of Hagee's endorsement he is saying, even if this wasn't his intent, that we should be tolerant of intolerance but Sean, like Rush, has become a shill for a party and a president. Re the Iraq war you should be for the war not because Sean tells you you should be for it, this ain't thinking, but because in your heart you're for it, make sense? and you should also not have such a closed mental universe, political solipsism if you will, that you can't accept the fact that people have political differences about everything under the sun. There are still many good pockets of talk radio still worth listening to, Laura Ingraham's at the top of my list, but I think a good part of it has outlived and outdone itself, intoxicated with its own power, its hackneyed use of the formula the Democrats can do no right and the Republicans can do no wrong. I don't listen to much of it in the car anymore, I have my preset music stations and when they grind the same playlist into the ground everyday I fall back on my CD player. I check out Hannity only on a very occasional basis and it's always SO-SO (same old same old) or SS-DD as people like to say at work.