Pop Quiz

Go. Take the quiz. And hang your head in shame if you get even one wrong.

The manipulation of American opinion goes back to at least the FDR (ptui!) administration. Everything was very carefully staged to give the impression that his health was just fine, thank you very much. Of course, it must have been rather embarassing for his handlers when he up and died on 'em.

No doubt Truman and Eisenhower were manipulated into manipulating popular opinion. Some of our earliest memories revolve around the "duck and cover" drills designed to scare us all spitless concerning the Red Menace (which was indeed a menace, but could have been dispatched quite easily if anyone had had the will).

Then came Kennedy. His "debates" with Nixon were a total farce. It wasn't until years later that it was admitted just how Nixon was deceived and the pulic duped. (He was told there would be a dark background and he should wear a light-colored suit; Kennedy's people knew in advance that the background would be light. It was also well known that Nixon had a propenisty to sweat. The studio had air conditioning, but it was not turned on. In addition, he had just been operated on for phlebitis and it was very painful for him to stand still. And so he was given only a slender lectern to stand behind.

(After the "debate" was over, the surveys showed that of those who saw the debate on TV, the majority favored Kennedy (big surprise there). But of those who only heard it on the radio, the results were exactly the opposite.)

Then came the Vietnam debacle. We still don't know how it slipped past the censors, but some years ago it was revealed just how the public was duped into thinking that there was some large-scale opposition to US involvement. A "news" broadcast showed what appeared to be a large crowd of "protestors" marching down the street, clamoring for "peace". During the later broadcast, the camera zoomed out of the picture and revealed a small clot of agitators that couldn't have numbered more than a dozen, instead of the huge crowd Americans were meant to believe.

And now the Lunatic Left wants you to believe that "most" Americans are opposed to involvement in Iraq.

Uh-huh...

Side note: Poke a finger in the eye of Sarah Brady and her lying minions on Tuesday. Go out and buy a box of ammo. Maybe you could use her picture for target practice.

Boys Will NOT Be Boys!

OK, we've put off writing this for far too long. Having been shamed into action by the good Kim duToit (Warning: strong language), we can hold back no longer.

Time was, when boys would do stupid and/or dangerous and/or less socially acceptable things and their actions were met with a "tsk-tsk" and the observation that "boys will be boys". No longer. It has been decreed that boys will no longer be boys but girls with a Y chromosome. When exactly this happened is up for grabs, but how it happened is pretty obvious. As is why it happened.

The why should be perfectly obvious. Ruling the sheep is fairly easy when there are no rams in the flock. Women have always been society's nurturers, but men have always been the protectors. But our society has been slowly lulled into believing that these roles are no longer necessary, as the nanny state purports to do both nurturing and protecting.

Pop culture is mostly to blame for the how. As Kim points out, look at how men have been portrayed in the movies, one TV, and in advertising. Quick quiz: name one Real Man on TV. Can't do it, can you? Not surprising.

Not that there haven't been a few silent protests. The venerable Bob Newhart refused to be a patsy. (Read the first Trivia item.)

The most pressing question, however, is where we go from here. Unless people wake up and accept the fact that society needs men to be Real Men, society is doomed. And by "Real Men", we do not mean "boorish louts". We mean men the way they used to be -- willing to speak the truth, no matter who is (or pretends to be) "offended" by it; guided by convictions, not opinions; able to address a true injustice without whining about it; and ready, willing and able to defend self, family, and country.

Girls can be girls. It's time for boys to be boys again. And grow into men.

Huh?

Stupid quote of the week:

Cynthia McFadden on ABC's "Primetime Crime".

"This is a crime that should never have happened."

You mean there are crimes that should happen?

Fair Dinkum

You might die in a fiery ball of destruction slamming into a large building, but if the jackboots at the Heimatsicherheitsdienst have anything to do with it, at least you won't have to listen to any Aussie slang on the way down.

Question of the week: how in the name of sanity did "swearing at attendants" become a crime? Apparently, these cretins never heard of the First Amendment (which applies, since the "offense" took place on an American carrier flying from Atlanta to Pittsburgh).

Maybe she could have gotten away with it if she had been wearing a burqa.

Freedom's A Bitch

Thanks to Vox Day's occasional linking, we've picked up the habit of reading Dr. Helen's blog. Mind you, we put no great store in psychology (which we consider to be 20% observation and 80% speculation), but the erudite lady is well worth the read.

Especially today. It appears that there is no shortage of cretins more than willing to tell you how to live your life. We would dare to suggest that, instead of getting all exercised about the vocabulary of otherwise harmless citizens, these imbeciles just might find their time used more productively in perusing at least the US Constitution, if not the Constitution of the State of New York.

Apparently, the thought that their meddling in our lives is far more odious than any epithet anyone could toss about, completely escapes them. Perhaps someone from the Empire State could enlighten us as to just when it was that the state became the arbiter of interpersonal communication and manners?

(By the by, may we presume that it is still OK to refer to Councilwoman Mealy as a "stupid cow"? At least until legislation to the contrary is passed?)

FeedBurner

After much experimentation, tweaking, fiddling, diddling, and not a few choice words not normally heard from us, we've finally gotten FeedBurner to work (icon in the right sidebar).

In typical fashion, it would have been a great deal easier had they only given a simple, straightforward example of what the feed code looks like. It's so much easier to find things when you know what you're looking for.