For Solon

I heard that you watched The Big Lebowski for the first time last night. Better late than never, I suppose.

You need to show this clip to your students. The Dude knows how to debate: "Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."

61 Things on Toby the Cat

And Speaking of the "Cheetos Brigade": America's Rich Are Being Soaked, and Papa Bear O'Reilly Is Pissed

Okay, so maybe Nader's platform is flawed. Papa Bear O'Reilly puts it all in perspective for us. Blinded by deceitful rhetorics of economic justice in America, we were not able to see the truth. But the spin, as it were, stops here. Leftist America is taking his money, and giving it to the undeserving: lo and verily, this ought not to stand: it is time American stopped beating up on the top 1 percent.

Snippety snippets:

That means that people who drink gin all day long will be getting some of my hard-earned money. Folks who dropped out of school, who are too lazy to hold a job, who smoke reefer 24/7 all will get some goodies in the mail from Uncle Barack and Aunt Nancy, funded by me and other rich folks.

Under the Republican Bush administration, tax money presently pays for abortions, Viagra, condoms, sugar-laden food, dangerous housing in blighted neighborhoods and prescription drugs that will send you to the land of Oz.

But if you complain about any of this, you're an uncharitable greedhead.

Well, I am complaining. I don't want my money supporting some layabout who wants to get high all day long. Robin Hood wouldn't give those people money. The feds shouldn't either.

"Layabout" is a great word by the way.

Happy Wednesday Musical Tribute

Harrogate will never forget the first time he heard this song on the radio. He was working in a greasy-spoon in the Mall, slinging Steak and Cheeses, frying fries, and awaiting the end of his shift, which would mean a good long sojourn on Pete's Couch.

But then the Garbage song "Queer" burst into the Rhetorical Situation of that little diner. Oh my, thought young Harrogate. Whatever. Have. We. Here.

Though otherwise cheerfully given to hyperbolic language, Harrogate must say that he doesn't use such language lightly when it comes to Pop Music. But Really. This song, when he heard it for the first time, really felt like something new. And it forever changed the soundscape of Harrogate's musical taste.

Why Some People Like Ron Paul, Part IV

Lo, it has been a while since Harrogate rendered an installment of his award-garnering series, Why Some People Like Ron Paul. This has been for several reasons. Some say an uncouth band of Paulites actually kidnapped Harrogate there for a while, and held him hostage on Pete's Couch, where in between tokes they force-fed him issues of The Federalist Papers.

Others, more cynically minded, asserted it was because Harrogate followed Media Hero Frank Luntz's lead, and just stopped caring about The Paul.

Finally, there have been rumors circulating that the real reason Harrogate stopped writing about The Paul is that he discovered a secret message in the movie Office Space, wherein it was pointed out that Libertarianism is the last, last, last thing that needs any extra discourse, in this gilded age of cubicles, outsourcing, mercenary contractors, cuts in education, and the like.


But whatever the reason, Readers, Harrogate now triumphantly returns to the topic. Yes, he boisterously links to one of the last great bastions of Independent Thought in the Media, that Lion known as the Washington Times. Courtesy the equally trustworthy AP, the Times reported yesterday that:

Supporters of maverick Rep. Ron Paul who are organizing a rally as an alternative to the Republican National Convention are moving their crosstown event to a larger venue.

The Rally for the Republic featuring Paul _ the Texas conservative failed in his bid to win the GOP nomination for president _ is scheduled for Minneapolis' Target Center, home of basketball's Minnesota Timberwolves.

"Bah humbug!" quoth Minnehaha Republican Honcho Ron Carey. Or, to quote him directly:

The real action is going to be at the Xcel Center where one of the people who does have a chance to be president is going to be speaking and rallying the troops. When people come to St. Paul in September, they're not going to be focused on Ron Paul.

A Justifiable Representaion of a Man Hitting a Woman?; or, a Question that Has Been on Harrogate's Mind Since 1995

Lots of great things about 1995. Baseball was in a sense redeemed from the ignoble 1994 strike, by the Mariners' heroic playoff comeback against the Yankees, when Ken Griffey, Jr. rounded the bases all the way from first when Edgar Martinez heroically roped a double down the left field line (look closely at the end of the clip, you'll see that none other than a fresh-faced Alex Rodriguez was waiting in the on-deck circle to greet Griffey home). It was just the other day that Harrogate was arguing that Edgar should be inducted into the Hall of Fame, despite the fact that he was a DH. Except for perhaps paperweight, probably no better pure right-handed hitter has graced the plate in Harrogate's lifetime.

Phish was in their prime in 1995. Harrogate, firmly ensconced on Pete's Couch, did not like Phish at the time, though now, far from Pete's Couch, he loves Phish. [surprises lurk in the links, O Readers.]

Also in 1995, Harrogate rented the movie Drop Zone. Starring Wesley Snipes and the great, great, great Gary Busey, it appealed to Harrogate immensely, and still does. But one moment happens in that movie the likes of which Harrogate cannot for the life of him recall having ever seen in a movie. It is a moment in which a man hits a woman across the face with his fist, knocking her on her ass, and though the female in question is a wholly sympathetic character, the narrative fully supports the action. Indeed, it is a comedic moment. As a viewer, because of the Rhetorical Situation in which it happens, one may even want to cheer.

All Harrogate asks of those who would respond is, please don't invoke issues related to snuff, which we obviously reject, unless you are prepared to make the case that there is a substantive connection betwixt the scene in question, and snuff.

So, in the spirit of Elmo's goldfish Dorothy, Harrogate "has a question" for his fellow Board Members and Readers alike. When you watch the clip below, check out the action between the 1:00 mark and about 1:15. Tell Harrogate if you don't think Wesley does the right thing here. And what might the broader implications of our answers be?