Still Racists?

“Conservatives are described over and over as mean-spirited, war-loving, greedy, bigoted, racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, homophobic, sexist, intolerant and oblivious to human suffering.”

Not much of a news flash. I’ve known about this, personally for some time… and later discovered that others were subject to the same smears and distortions. (See Ann Coulter’s “Slander”.) Left-leaners say this, especially online, almost reflexively. With some left-leaners the response comes so naturally you begin to wonder whether or not these folks actually believe it sincerely.

The quote comes from a recent column by Dennis Prager (The Left and the Term “Islamo-Fascism”). He discusses a recent speech… where he disarmed university students with his reasoning, sense of humor, and otherwise simply by being himself as opposed to the distorted image they expected.

“For the last couple of decades now, name-calling has been the principal argument liberals have deployed against conservative arguments.

“If Republicans opposed the National Endowment for the Arts, they were said to hate art. If Republicans opposed the Department of Education, they were said to hate teachers. If Republicans opposed the Environmental Protection Agency, they were said to hate the environment. Opposition to the government spending money on anything was invariably attacked as hatred for the thing money was to be spent on.”

As I mentioned earlier, Ann Coulter wrote a book on left-leaners targeting conservatives and Republicans with unrelated comments like hate, racist, ugly, mean, etc. Some simply diminish conservative arguements and politcies down to mere intolerance and bigotry.

It gets said all too often... and the recipiant, or his comrades, rarely seem to stand up against the smear. If it wasn't so sad it would be funny.

“Liberals are like the monkeys in Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" who explain: "We all say so, and so it must be true."”

The monkeys who think they understand conservatives and believe they cracked the reasons why we simply don't think like they do probably wouldn't hold on to these rediculous ideas if only more conservatives would speak up.

It happens at work. My boss and at least one immediate co-worker appear to be big anti-Bush folks. Not only that, they occasionally denigrate conservative political views. I simply respond in a friendly and jovial manner. I use humor the way they use it... and I make it clear that I like talking with these people regardles of the subject and whether or not we agree.

Someone else at work maintains the quote section of our home page... always an anti-Bush comment. Someone had changed things around for a while and we were getting various humorous or historical quotes... however, it was not to last. We're back on the "classic" stand-by quote. So be it. Some folks need to feel secure.

Again, mention it. Just point it out. Simply remind the person that, for example, “My support for the war doesn’t make me bigoted… it simply doesn’t follow.” Someone disagrees with who I support in the 2008 elections and calls me intolerant, so I say, “An interesting argument, please explain.” About two years ago some rabid woman proceeded to claim that I was intolerant as well as mean... all after speaking with me for about an hour. What’s more, she acted quite rudely. You can’t imagine my delight in pointing out that her intolerance made for a rather unpleasant evening out with friends.

All of this reminds me of my old man’s take on Dennis Prager. About a year ago I visited my mom and dad and the subject of radio came up. I mentioned to my mom, who enjoys Limbaugh, that if she doesn’t like one of Rush’s guest-hosts she should tune in to Dennis Prager. When talking to anyone about radio I always refer to Prager as a great radio tonic for anyone who simply doesn’t like Rush Limbaugh… regardless of whether the listener is more conservative or liberal. My mom took the advice, but my dad pooh-poohed Prager. He dismissed him as just like all the others… or words to that effect. He’s not a liberal, but he doesn’t have time for talk shows other than Soucheray. I told him that in spite of what he might have heard from others, that’s not Prager… he’s very fair with callers and fair with discussion. His responses are measured and thought out.

Go ahead and disagree with Prager, but you’ll have a hard time likening him to a guy like Savage or Levin or the late Morton Downy, Jr.

Strib Letter: Go Ahead, Pay More

Again, we are asked to pay more, more, more. By who?

Do you really need to ask?

Willing to pay for a better Minnesota...

Lieutenant Governor Molnau: For the record I would be willing to pay a bridge safety tax of 35 cents for every gallon of gas I purchase. Don't underestimate the willingness of Minnesotans to invest in what really matters.


LARRY WICHLINSKI, ST. PAUL

Glad to hear you've volunteered, Larry. Go ahead... start paying more willingly. Just don't expect to impose your desires on everyone else.

On a related note:

An Aug. 7 letter writer asks, "Why is our money being spent on things that aren't absolutely necessary?"

Given the redundancy of modifying "necessary" with "absolutely," we can deduce that the writer is pretty serious about putting a stop to all these frivolous purchases like theaters, museums, park, sports venues and light rail. All that is "necessary" (absolutely) is food, water and probably, in Minnesota, shelter.

The writer should understand that the other amenities are what attract businesses to a city, augmented by a reputation for excellent medical care and good schools. People with good salaries create a solid tax base. Investment generates revenue. Professionals want to take the kids to Twins game, or spend an afternoon at a special exhibition or see a live theater production or even an opera. If we don't provide that type of environment, they can always go somewhere that does aspire to be world class.

But wait! I have a better idea! The world, and even the United States, has plenty of grim and joyless cities, deprived of investment, destined to mediocrity. Instead of sucking all the life, beauty and livability out of the Twin Cities, why doesn't the writer just move to one of those cities? Everybody wins.


ANNTOINETTE GURVIN, BURNSVILLE

Here's a better idea, Anntoinette: instead of making taxpayers front for unnecessary items that you consider investments in sparks of joy, why not start investing yourself. Pool your resources. Wrangle up funding. Collect donations of money and volunteer work. Why should the taxpayers cough it up?

You folks want to spread the pain of paying for everything to all of us. You want us to pay for your joy.

Just Give Me a Lousy Piece of Pizza

Soucheray occasionally mentions that he just wants a Lousy Cup of Coffee... in fact, Garage Logic has a little coffee shop called The Lousy Cup of Coffee. It's a tonic for the coffee fad... you know, the half-caf double-mocha-chino with extra foam? Sometimes you just want coffee... no major choices. Occasionally, you actually want an espresso or a cappachino (which folks insist is actually expresso or cuppachino). Custom made pianos have less complicated orders.

I heard something about this strange pizza joint last week, and I even saw a quaintly costumed pizza delivery freak on the road yesterday... but Lileks comments today in The Bleat.

What kind of whiney-woo actually chooses pizza based on their (fringe) political philosophy? Just give me a lousy piece of pizza, for Christ's sake. I don't want the shop to save the planet... the planet will be fine. Should this pizza joint be operating at the time of the next presidential campaign you're going to see and hear it get interesting. ;)

Perhaps I ought to help start The Lousy Slice of Pizza shop... guaranteed to not give a damn.