I've always thought of Phelps mainly as just the epitome of anti-gay idiocy. It turns out he actually represents such a generalized type of evil that he's in danger of turning into a cartoon character. Picketing military funerals is only about a half a step below tying women to railroad tracks. :

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

His church was bombed, and now he protests funerals of the war dead
Kansas preacher says he's coming to Idaho

By CHUCK OXLEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOISE, Idaho -- A Kansas preacher and gay rights foe whose congregation is protesting military funerals around the country said he's coming to Idaho tomorrow to picket the memorial for an Idaho National Guard soldier killed in Iraq.

A flier on the Web site of Pastor Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church claims God killed Cpl. Carrie French with an improvised explosive device in retaliation against the United States for a bombing at Phelps' church six years ago.

[More beneath the fold....]

Pat Buchanan Doused With Salad Dressing

2 hours, 15 minutes ago   U.S. National - AP

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Commentator and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan cut short an appearance after an opponent of his conservative views doused him with salad dressing.

"Stop the bigotry!" the demonstrator shouted as he hurled the liquid Thursday night during the program at Western Michigan University. The incident came just two days after another noted conservative, William Kristol, was struck by a pie during an appearance at a college in Indiana.

After he was hit, Buchanan cut short his question-and-answer session with the audience, saying, "Thank you all for coming, but I'm going to have to get my hair washed."

I signed up for the Do Not Call list some time ago. I still get the occasional toll-free call, but never pick up; lately there had been a lot (City Comission election on Tuesday) but they had been relatively light lately.

About five minutes ago, I get a call from 866-471-6990. I didn't pick up, as usual, but the answering machine does, and it's Tommy Lasorda pushing Bush's Social security idiocy. I went ahead and filed a complaint with the Do Not Call registry, but I'm not entirely sure whether this is the sort of thing for which there are exceptions.

In any case, I'd encourage anyone else who gets this sort of call to file complaints, in the off chance we can get somebody heavily fined. In any case, Tommy Lasorda's now a nominee for some sort of douchebaggery award.

There's a certain kind of argument that still comes up from time to time, one that I think we're all familiar with. It's the one that we continue to handcap ourselves in the current struggle, the one that usually begins either "well, reasonably..." or "we can't lower ourselves to..." And we all know the sort of people I'm talking about.

I call them Vichy Democrats. Or Chamberlains, after the late PM.

I'll be the first to admit that that sounds bad. But hear me out.

I"ve spent the last four years feeling like the end was nigh; that the occupant of the White House stood for everything that I hated, and likewise hated everything that was important to me, and that the country was doomed.

(AP) John Kerry shocked political observers today when he announced that he was withdrawing from the presidential race weeks before the election. In an even more surprising move, his replacement was not popular vice-presidential pick John Edwards, but rather Christian messiah Jesus Christ.

Leading Republicans have remained officially quiet on the turnaround, but a group calling itself "Canaa Wedding Guests for Truth" has emerged to denounce Jesus's actions in Roman occupied Judea in the first century AD. The group is a "527" organization with no official ties to the Bush-Cheney administration or the GOP reelection effort.

I checked Netflix for Outfoxed, since I'm still dithering on buying it. They didn't have it, but these were the results of the search for it:

The Devil's Advocate   
Good Advice   
The Advocate (The Hour of the Pig)
Berserk (6-Disc Series)(Kenpû Denki Berserk)
Ittefaq

For whatever reason, I found this very amusing.

I've given this a lot of thought.

Not dedicated, first-rate thought, but definitely thought.

What song do you think of when you think of Bush?

This is just a thought. I think this would be more likely to help than hurt us.

Jacksonville, Fl. apparently has a Nathan Bedford Forrest high school. (My dad's from Jacksonville and told me it's still there; I'm in Gainesville) I'd be surprised if it's the only such one of these. Forrest, of course, is a former Confederate General and - more importantly - the founder of the KKK. Why don't we insist that the name get changed.

I doubt Jacksonville is alone in having one of these; in any case, this is a much harder thing for the Rebublicans defend than, say, the Confederate flag. Anyone defending it will look completely racist or delusional, and ikely alienate swing voters; Florida is a particularly good place to do that in.

I figure that in an election year, one of two things will happen - either Conservatives will cave in and consent to rename the school, or they'll fight it. In the first scenario we get the school renamed (which is a good thing, obviously) and possibly soften racist redneck support for the Republicans. In the second, they alienate a bunch of moderates.

Maybe I'm missing a way this could backfire; quite frankly, I think it's too unambiguous for that to happen. I'd be curious to hear what anyone thinks.