Kevin Everett and the Wonders of Modern Medicine

Some news all Sports Fans can be happy with.Kevin Everett likely to be walking within a matter of weeks.

Solon is truly our resident expert on all things NFL, particularly when it comes to the vaunted Buffalo Bills. And we look forward to his sharing details of what is on the verge of becoming, even in this hyper ironic age, a genuine feel-good story.

Yet Harrogate hopes he is not overstepping his provincial bounds by taking this opportunity to join Everett's legion of well-wishers. And to express wonder at how this all came to be: the most amazing part is how the on-field trainer was able to sufficiently lower Everett's body temperature with some sort of an injection, in a matter of mere minutes, before swelling could do permanent damage. Is there a day coming soon when doctors will be able to straight-up fuse severed spinal tissue and virtually eliminate paralyses born of accident?

Why does Harrogate Hate Free Speech?

To continue a conversation that should have been stopped weeks ago....

The ACLU submitted an amicus brief on behalf of Senator Larry Craig arguing that the Minnesota Law is overbroad and that toe-tapping is free speech. If nothing else, the toe-tapping fun of Senator Craig is certainly a means of communication. Slate has the story here.

Since this news broke, 4,378 conservative heads exploded as they pondered why the ACLU would help Senator Craig. Of course, ACLU haters believe this is more about protecting perversion than privacy:

Of course, for the “non-partisan” organization, this is more about protecting perversion than politics or privacy. As much as the media will make a day out of a conservative getting support from the ACLU, its really the solicitation for sex that is being defended.

Could you ask for anything more in this case?

Your move Harrogate, your move.

Humor from the National Review

Occasionally, they can be humorous. Most of it is unintentional, such as how a few writers went to the White House today to discuss propaganda, err. i mean strategy, with the President.

But this is good.

I read the news today, oh boy... [Mark Steyn]
I went over to the Fox News story on Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit and was laughing my head off over the charge that he was fired to "pacify the White House" when my eye fell on the right-hand column of current headlines. What a snapshot of the world. In order:

* Idaho Man Blames Wild Sex for Car Crash
* Man Declared Dead Awakens During Autopsy
* Court Revokes Britney Spears' Teen Role Model Career
* New Zealand Cops Discover Woman's Body in Car Belonging to Father of 3-Year-Old Abandoned Girl
* British Woman Divorces Son of Usama Bin Laden
* Questions Raised Whether Tasered Student Planned to Stage Incident at Kerry Forum
* Alicia Silverstone to Appear Nude in PETA Commercial
* O.J. Simpson Released From Jail After Posting $125K Bail in Armed Memorabilia Heist Case
* Iranian General: We Have Plans to Bomb Israel if They Attack Us
* Armless Man Will Not be Charged With Head-Butting Death of Ga. Man
* Meteorite Crash Causes 'Mystery Illness' in Peru
* Milwaukee Nun, 79, Charged With Having Sexual Contact With Two Boys
* Youngest of 3 Sisters Allegedly Set on Fire by Mom Dies in Hospital
* Pop Tarts: Jamie Foxx’s Fertile Fantasy: Impregnating Halle Berry
* Dan Rather Expected to Report Boeing 787 Unsafe
* Report: Jesse Jackson Says Barack Obama 'Acting White' in Case of Six Blacks Accused in Assault Case

What I like about the list is the vague feeling that it's computer generated and would make no difference randomly reshuffled:

* New Zealand Cop Divorces Son Of Usama Bin Laden
* Alicia Silverstone Expected To Report Boeing 787 Unsafe
* Milwaukee Nun Will Not Be Charged With Head-Butting Death
* Report: Jesse Jackson Says OJ Simpson "Acting White"
* Dan Rather To Appear Nude In PETA Commercial

Leave Chris Crocker Alone Redux

Okay, Last one. Harrogate promises. That is unless he puts another one on.

This one's been around almost since the beginning. What is funniest about it is the Sophoclean moment at the end when the sheet comes down and his drunken buddies eloquently assume the traditional role of the Greek Chorus, even as he works himself into such a frenzy that he momentarily loses the ability to breathe. This, folks, is the epiphany of the absurd.

Actually, it's exactly what Northrop Frye was talking about in Anatomy of Criticism--that strange, liminal space where narrative simultaneously manifests utter Irony and sublime Myth.

Enjoy, Readers. Enjoy.

Lola, or The Bright Side of Having "Gender Hang-Ups": A Scholarly Response Wherein The Kinks Are Cited

Harrogate, who himself looks damned good in makeup and a tasteful lingerie ensemble, would like to dedicate this video to "C", particularly in reference to M's recent, highly provocative post over at Separation of Spheres.



(Oh, and Mormons are Weird)

Larry "Thunder Mug" Craig Returns to the Senate: The Saga of the Wide Stance Continues

Hat tip TalkLeft
on this one. Not only has Larry Craig returned to the Senate but check this out! The bathroom where Craig was arrested has become a must see on any respectable tour of these United States.

From the article:

Since news broke Aug. 27 of the arrest of Idaho Sen. Larry Craig in an airport restroom, the airport has been fielding requests for directions to the men's room in question, which is conveniently located just off the central food court and popular shopping area.
Abdalla Said, who works at a newsstand on the G concourse, said he's been getting requests daily, too.
"It's by the lottery shop, right next to the shoeshine shop," he said without blinking.
Gee Butler works at that shoeshine shop, the Royal Zino. He said the restroom has become a photo op.
"People have been going inside, taking pictures of the stall, taking pictures outside the bathroom door - man, it's been crazy," he said.

Deliberative Democracy or the Decline and Fall of the American Republic

Does the student have the right to be heard? Does the student make sense? Does he deserved to be tasered?

Oscar Wilde--Preface to "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

All Art Is Quite Useless

The artist is the creator of beautiful things.
To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.
The critic is he who can translate into another manner
or a new material his impression of beautiful things.
The highest, as the lowest, form of criticism is a mode
of autobiography.
Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt
without being charming. This is a fault.
Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things
are the cultivated. For these there is hope.
They are the elect to whom beautiful things means only
Beauty.
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.
Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
The nineteenth century dislike of Realism is the rage of
Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.
The nineteenth century dislike of Romanticism is the
rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.
The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of
the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect
use of an imperfect medium. No artist desires to prove
anything. Even things that are true can be proved.
No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy
in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.
No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express
everything.
Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art.
Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.
From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is
the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling,
the actor's craft is the type.
All art is at once surface and symbol.
Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.
Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.
It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.
Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work
is new, complex, and vital.
When critics disagree the artist is in accord with
himself.
We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he
does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless
thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless.