Toolin' Tuesday

O In a mail appeal for charitable contributions for Eritrea, some data are provided on that country – including this gem. Under “religions”, there is a category labeled “Protestant, animist, and other”, totaling 1% of the population. Talk about strange (spiritual) bedfellows! But actually, maybe not so strange, given what the Episcopalians, Quakers, and Unitarians have been up to lately...

O It has often been commented that the lively era known as “the 60's” was, in reality, a civil war – or at the very least a “culture war”. But of course that war is far from over, even though the makeup of the opposing sides keeps morphing, and who is “in” and who is “out” of power keeps shifting. But the newest skirmish – that between the ObamaCare juggernaut and the “town hall protesters”, is something to behold. And as I've said before, it's good to see the liberal, leftist collectivists on the defensive for once. And it's also good to see that all of their accusations, over the years, of “conservative hypocrisy” have turned into ashes in their mouths. They are, in fact, the Establishment now, and acting every bit the part. And they even have the gall to call their opponents “un-American” -- as if they have ever had any use for anything even remotely “American” through their entire sorry history. Yes – we are indeed seeing a tsunami of hypocrisy flowing out of Washington, and breaking on the rocky shores of the “real America” -- i.e. the part more than ten miles from either ocean.

O And as far as the euthanasia “rap” on ObamaCare – the proponents protesteth too much, methinks. My suspicion is that euthanasia is very much a part of the plan – if not of the current bill – and that all the indignation is based on the fact that it's been “outed”. But hey, if this “outing” is enough to delay the nasty business for a few more years, then it worked, didn't it?

O But before leaving this delicious topic, I have to provide a quote from Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer: “Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American.” Gee folks, I hope that applies to opposing views on things like global warming. It does, doesn't it? Heh heh...

O OK, here's something I'm going to have to see a show of hands on. How many out there know anybody – anybody – who gambles, who doesn't think they're “ahead”? Yeah – I thought so. No one who gambles thinks that they have sustained a net loss from their efforts – not even the ones who wind up living in a packing crate under a railroad trestle. Which means that the $1.3 million gross revenue that the new casino in Pittsburgh earned in its first 18 hours was, clearly, all gambled away by a bunch of ghosts, and not real people. Who knew that so many ghosts frequented gambling casinos? I sure didn't. But if you had conducted an exit survey of suckers, I mean “clientele”, from the casino on that day, you would have found only people who boasted of having “made a killing” -- “It paid for my bus trip and my meals, with plenty left over.” And this, in turn, is what's missing from the arguments – by the usual do-gooders and scolds – that casinos are an evil presence and a bad influence. They overlook a number of facts, the first of which is that gambling is fun... and that it serves as an amusing pastime for people who literally have no better way to spend their time... and that, in fact, everybody who gambles considers themselves a winner. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, you anti-gambling crusaders! Your alleged victims are not only enjoying life much more than you ever will, but they think they're business geniuses as well. How you gonna top that, with your Puritanical scolding? The anwer is, you're not. But that won't stop the regretters from doing the regretting.

O Well, Bill Clinton is back from North Korea, having enrolled Kim Jong-Il in the vast army of those who consider themselves “friends of Bill”. But hey, he can claim “mission accomplished”, and any North Koreans who share Kim's enthusiasm for old Mighty Mouse cartoons can echo the refrain, “Here I come to save the day!” But gosh – what a wet blanket Hillary turned out to be when someone in Congo asked her “what her husband thought about an international financial matter”. “'My husband is not secretary of State, I am,' she snapped. 'I am not going to be channeling my husband.'” Now – I assume “channeling” is not a euphemism for some bizarre liberal sexual ritual... oh yeah, I forgot – she was “channeling” Eleanor Roosevelt back during her husband's administration, so she is clearly an adept. But it troubles me greatly to see what appear to be fault lines in what I always considered an ideal marriage. At any rate, my message to Hillary is as follows: Hey Hill! Lighten up! If it weren't for your degenerate husband you'd be a civil-rights lawyer in Cincinnati. So yeah, you're just going to have to face up to the fact that you will always be considered his creature, and never given full respect on your own. Public opinion giveth, and public opinion taketh away.

O And how about that guy in Belarus who was killed when a statue of Lenin fell on him? A local resident said, “The monument's heavy head tumbled on him.” Well... we know Lenin had a remarkably large head – all the better for holding all the fatal delusions of communism. But can it be that this poor schmuck was really the last fatality attributable to Lenin? I fear not...

O Shortest obituary for Eunice Kennedy Shriver: You really can be too thin and too rich.