Wednesday Musical Tribute, and a Homage of Sorts, to Little Green Footballs

Major Tip of the Hat to Little Green Footballs for this priceless image. Readers not familiar with the website should know that its proprietor, Charles Johnson, and the site's commenters regularly refer to themselves as "Lizards." While Harrogate has several times offered strong disagreement with LGF's politics, the unabashed centrism Johsnon represents includes a very strong support for speech rights and religious liberty, has vociferously defended Science and called out the nascent creationism that infests our current political landscape, and has made every bit as much effort to be fair to Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress, as he made with respect to Bush and the GOP Congress. Similarly, Johnson's loathing of the theocratic oppression in much of the Middle East is a sensibility that Americans of all political stripes ought to appreciate.

Plus, isn't the above just an awesome picture?


As an added measure of homage, Harrogate installs a wonderful live performance of Phish's "The Lizards," as the Wednesday Musical Tribute.

J.D. Salinger Finally Speaks!!!

New Terminator Movie Brings J.D. Salinger Out Of Hiding

"Come in, come in, sit down, there's plenty of space," an exuberant Salinger told reporters, gesturing around his sitting room, which was filled with movie posters, comic books, and other Terminator collectibles, including a life-sized statue of the T-800 Model terminator as portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. "What a frigging inspired choice to cast Bryce Dallas Howard. She made so much more sense in that part than Claire Danes."

Tip of the Hat to one of Harrogate's Facebook friends.

Fun With Vanity Fair: What Arguments Are Being Made in these Pics, and Which Do Ye Like Best?

Tip of the Hat to Supadiscomama, who moments ago drew Harrogate's attention to the existence of the following Rhetorical Siuation.

March 2006. Scarlett Johannson, Tom Ford, Kiera Knightley (annotated as FORD'S FOUNDATION):




March 2009. Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and Jonah Hill (annotated as The Pretty Young Things):

The Michael Phelps Discourses: An Assy McGee Award® as well as a Tip of the Hat

The Assy McGee Award® for February 9th, 2009, goes to Baptist Press staff writer and Townhall contributor Kelly Boggs, who is OUTRAGED at Phelps, both for his visit to Pete's Couch and for his past DUI.

A Righteous Snippet:

Kellogg's has already announced it will not continue its endorsement deal with Phelps. A company spokesman said that Phelps' recent behavior is not in keeping with the company's image. Any company that is forking over big bucks to Phelps has every right to expect him to behave in a fashion that will not reflect poorly on the company.

As for Kelloggs. What banality that cereal company has manifested. Hopefully the consumer backlash against these asshats will be strong. American public opinion on marijuana use in general is surprisingly removed from the draconian laws and from the stigma that some in the media wish to maintain. So we will see.

Unsurprisingly, Seth Myers nailed the right way of looking at the Michael Phelps Rhetoric on the most recent SNL.

Smells like dinner!

Scrubs: Healthy Rhetorics of Gender, Healthy Rhetorics of Race, and a Healthy Wag of the Finger at Supadiscomama and Mrs. Oxymoron

Well.

As Harrogate and Supadiscomama plunge down the final homestretch of Scrubs Season 7, Harrogate finds himself casting his thoughts still a bit backwards to the Tour De Force that was Season 5. Don't get Harrogate wrong, Season 6 is filled with memorable moments and Rhetorical Zingers of all stripes. And, Season 7 is even better than Season 6, in Harrogate's humble opinion.

But there was just something about Season 5, y'all. Yes, all you television addicts know of what Harrogate speaks: for lovers of any telvision show, there is always that Season where things crystallize and the viewer realizes: "here, here is exactly why this show speaks to me so powerfully."

And so the first of these clips is a final Tip of the Hat to Season 5. What a great JD moment this is. Additionally, the Scene vindicates Oxymoron's Love of the band Toto. And finally, this clip is a good example of why Harrogate thinks that when it comes to the prickly discourses of Gender, the Writers and Actors for Scrubs do exactly what Harrogate wants done.

Just check this out and tell me if it isn't the way to go:




Now for this second clip, which is from Season 7. In addition to its reflection of Scrubs' consistently good treatment of Race, this clip has vast personal importance for Harrrogate and Oxymoron. Harrogate, in fact, insists that Oxymoron have Mrs. Oxymoron watch this second clip and be reminded of a certain incident that took place shortly after Oxytoddler was born. Verily, Oxymoron and Harrogate were on the cusp of the same experience that JD and Turk have here, but we were preemptively cut off by the Mrs. Oxymoron and Supadiscomama. Hmmmm. Something about propriety.




And finally. Why such apolitical postings on this historic day? Because to get through the murderous semester that is now upon us, Harrogate is going to need to hold close the things that calm him and spread cheer through his soul. In other words, this is no time for conventional politics in the Mind of Harrogate.

Boo-Yah!!!!!!!!

Next Year, Be Brave

An inspiring television sequence. Whoever chose this particular song to go with this particular sequence: Tip of the Hat to Ye!!!!!

Monday Night Waits

Megs, here is a side of Waits we did not explore when you guys were down here in Texastown. But you need to get to know this side of him. And do not worry, CDs will come, at least one of which will allow you to explore the side of which Harrogate speaks.

Tip of the Hat to Roof Almighty, who feels this is a song that deserves to be taken seriously.

When Solon Noted, "Romney is Pissed"

As We are already beginning to see, February 2008 was one of this Blog's most effusive months. Southpaw's great jibe at Harrogate's homelife notwithstanding, there were moments when it seemed all the Irony had been drained out of the Situation, leaving only successions of straightforward, impassioned political argument.

But even in the thick of things, there were non-doctrinal gestures of humor that would appear at surprising moments, and which in a very real sense Stood as a Towering Marker of the great friendships on which this Blog has been Built.

And one of the most memorable Posts of that Crazy Season was this one by Solon. The title of the post, "Let the Games Begin," obliterated the line between Cliche and Poignantness. But when Solon wrote:

"Huckabee wins West Virginia. Romney is pissed...."

Actual Art had been achieved.

For months after, Harrogate would think about that sentence in its entirety. And the slight suggestion of a grin that must have played across Solon's mouth as he wrote it: his knowledge that it would delight Harrogate even as it captured the essence of the new Internicine GOP to come.

Solon, ye were on fire this year. Your Constitutional Passion, your Patriotism, and your steady support for Obama all did this Blog a great credit. And through it all, you never allowed yourself to lose your sense of humor.

Harrogate tips his Hat to you, friend.

Tip of the Hat to Kathleen Parker; or, an Update on Harrogate's Father, a Nader Sympathizer and Ohio Voter

Harrogate has long resisted the urge to proffer a Tip of the Hat to Kathleen Parker, whose ideological leanings diverge so dramatically from Harrogate's own.

But really, you've got to hand it to her. She took an awful lot of flap for simply pointing out Palin's vacuousness. But she did not back down. Like George Will and Andrew Sullivan and "Christo" Buckley, Parker doesn't like it that the GOP as currently configured represents an almost total capitulation to the most vicious anti-intellectual impulses in this country. And so they are complaining about it. They want their Party back. And there is nothing wrong with this, indeed, this revolt might well lead to a more moderate, reasonable GOP in the future, should Obama win.

Parker's recent column, wonderfully entitled "Maverick's Tragic Flaw" and linked herein, is a doozy, a must-read for those following the GOP implosion.

Explaining McCain's choice of Palin, Parker actually writes this:

As Draper tells it, McCain took Palin to his favorite coffee-drinking spot down by a creek and a sycamore tree. They talked for more than an hour, and, as Napoleon whispered to Josephine, "Voila."

One does not have to be a psychoanalyst to reckon that McCain was smitten. By no means am I suggesting anything untoward between McCain and his running mate. Palin is a governor, after all. She does have an executive resume, if a thin one. And she's a natural politician who connects with people.

But there can be no denying that McCain's selection of her over others far more qualified -- and his mind-boggling lack of attention to details that matter -- suggests other factors at work. His judgment may have been clouded by ... what?

Science provides clues. A study in Canada, published in New Scientist in 2003, found that pretty women foil men's ability to assess the future. "Discounting the future," as the condition is called, means preferring immediate, lesser rewards to greater rewards in the future. (Harrogate's emphasis)

UPDATE: Parker's article is so awesome Harrogate now adds another snippet from it:

The Canadian psychologists showed pictures of attractive and not-so attractive men and women to students of the opposite sex. The students were offered a prize -- either a small check for the next day or a larger check at some later date.

The men made perfectly rational decisions, opting for the delayed larger amount after viewing the average-looking women. You know where this is going. (Women, by the way, were rational no matter what.)

That men are at a disadvantage when attractive women are present is a fact upon which women have banked for centuries. Ignoring it now profits only fools. McCain spokesmen have said that he was attracted to Palin's maverickness, that she reminded him of himself.

Recognizing oneself in a member of the opposite sex (or the same sex, as the case may be) is a powerful invitation to bonding. Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in the river, imagining it to be his deceased and beloved sister's. In McCain's case, it doesn't hurt that his reflection is spiked with feminine approval.

As my husband observed early on, McCain the mortal couldn't mind having an attractive woman all but singing arias to his greatness. Cameras frequently capture McCain beaming like a gold-starred schoolboy while Palin tells crowds that he is "exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief." This, notes Draper, "seemed to confer not only valor but virility on a 72-year-old politician who only weeks ago barely registered with the party faithful." (Harrogate's emphasis)

Heh. But anyway. Last night Harrogate had a long talk with his father, who had called to announce his decision to vote for Barack Obama in the upcoming election.

"What finally swung it," asked Harrogate. "Was it the incontrovertible nature of my arguments, the beauty of my speech, the sheer magnetism of my political thought?"

"Pish! 'Twas none of that," stated old Dad from his residence in Ohio. "I just watched the McCain/Palin interveiw with Brian Williams. And it is important that Palin go back to the utter mediocrity from which she came, and to which she belongs. I just couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. No wonder even Colin Powell has endorsed Obama."

No wonder, indeed.

About The Last South Park Episode; and A Tip of the Hat to Andrew Sullivan

Gotta hand it to Sully on this, he boiled down very nicely the value of Wednesday's ridiculously out there South Park episode. "How out there was it," do you ask? It was sooooo out there, that Cartman and Butters' heroic, exquisitely vulgar, and ultimately penis-damaging efforts to stop China from conquering the United States was relegated to subplot status.

The Primary Plot of the episode, as signified by the above image (which Sully also has on his Post), involved our collective efforts to deny the fact that with their last installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, Spielburg and Lucas metaphorically Raped Indy, and though everyone sensed this when they saw the movie, we proved too cowardly to resist going on about our business, as though nothing had ever happened.

Verily. Butters' confused response to the whole spectacle at the end, "I thought the movie was pretty good," just doesn't cut it.

As Sullivan writes:

I was in denial about "The Crystal Skull" until that episode. Now I understand. I can't keep the flashbacks from coming into my head. And it's rough. It creeps up on you.

So thank you Matt and Trey, for forcing us to come eyeball to eyeball with a truth that we had been avoiding for months. Harrogate takes back every lame compliment he gave to the final Indiana Jones installment.

Analyzing Gibbs's Methodology; Or, Rachel Maddow Listened to Her First-Year Composition Teacher

One of the things that I constantly tell my composition students is that they need to "show, not tell." That is to say, they should demonstrate their points through examples and description, rather than simply stating their points and expecting their audiences to concede said points without evidence.

In an effort to emphasize the importance of this rhetorical necessity, I often remind students that I am from Missouri, and that Missouri is the "Show-Me State." Consequently, if their arguments are not showing me, then they're not persuading me. And if they're not persuading me, then they're not effective. And if they are not effective, then...well, then they're far from A-territory.

On Countdown last night, Keith Olbermann discussed the Hannity-Gibbs clip that the almighty Roof posted yesterday. In doing so, he asked Rachel Maddow to comment on Gibbs's methodology and to describe how he acheived success against Hannity. Maddow's response:

He did it by showing, instead of telling.

This wonderful pedagogical moment begins at the four-minute mark.

The New Nader Ad Part Deux (Harrogate and Oxymoron Got A's in a Graduate Level French Course)

Jeralyn at TalkLeft continues to build on her her heroic creds. Unhappy with both Clinton and Obama in the Primary, she sided with Clinton, not as a feminist statement but because she believed Clinton was to Obama's left on criminal justice issues.

Then when Obama won she found her way strongly into his camp, despite her strong difficulties with his criminal justice record. And even with the selection of Biden for VP, who Jeralyn has been skewering for years as a Drug Warrior and a Draconian advocate for all things Prosecution. Even then, Jeralyn did what Democrats ask us to do: understand that the dangers the GOP poses are so much more severe than the Dem Standard Bearers, that the first order of business has got to be to get the GOP out of Power.

All of which brings us to the beauty of this post, which responds to the Nader Ad that no less prestigious a personality than Harrogate celebrated only moments ago. Here is a piece of blog-writing from that post that is fit to bring a smile to the face:

I would like to see Nader's VP candidate, former public defender Matt Gonzales, in the Biden/Palin debate, just so the public could get a sense of what a progressive agenda is about on criminal justice issues. Between Biden, who's never met a crime bill he didn't like and Palin, who probably can't even understand one, it would be refreshing and enlightening in the way Dennis Kucinich, whose position on issues most closely match mine, was during the debates he participated in.

Exactly.

Tip of the Hat to the New Nader Ad; Or, First and Foremost, Harrogate is "In the Tank" for Progressive Politics

He damned sure aint talking to a parrot in this one. Great use of music, too. And nothing in this Ad is untrue. Indeed, the truth may be hard to take for Progressive Democrats (those that are left) to take.



Ouch. Is it any wonder that The Nader is now polling at a Staggering 10% among Ohioans????? 10% of Independents in the State of Ohio. Just think about that for a moment.

Keep ignoring these issue at thy peril, Obama. Actually. Unfortunately. It is at all our Peril.

Obama and Humor

Harrogate doesn't often associate Obama with humor, although lately, the candidate seems to have actually lightened up in proportion to the upsetness and even early stages of panic, experienced by some of his supporters.

But no matter. This was, as they say, a good 'un: Metaphors 101

Obama poked fun of McCain and Palin's new "change" mantra.

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

"We've had enough of the same old thing."

Heh.

You Might Be a Nutbag If......; Or, Tip of the Hat to Fox News Online

One of the big questions right now for the Presidential campaign is, will Sarah Palin remain out of the Media's reach until her debate with Biden, or will the McCain campaign let her elaborate on her views for the General Public.

Kudos and Tips of the Hat to media of all political persuasions which are in the process of trying to 'smoke Palin out,' as it were, by discussing her views and posting them online. Certainly Harrogate didn't expect this AP piece to show up on the front page of Fox's Website yesterday. But, there you have it. A blind groundhog really will find an acorn now and then.

The AP Headline reads: "Palin’s Church Promoting Conversion of Gays to Heterosexuals."

It is tongue-talking level scary. Harrogate seems to remember there was a wee bit of discourse surrounding the church that Barack Obama attended. Perhaps stuff like this deserves a bit of attention, Yes?

“You’ll be encouraged by the power of God’s love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality,” according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.

Palin’s conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain’s candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.

Harrogate's favorite part though is the way the AP ends it. This is also why Harrogate was pretty stunned that Fox ran it. For the final paragraph, O Readers, is is one sentence long:

“People are looking at Sarah Palin as someone who might feasibly be in the White House,” he said.

McCain, utterly void of ideas, has decided to turn this election on the Culture Wars. But the Irony is, he and Palin hope to do it without Independents finding out until it is too late. Will it work? Not if Brave Media such as Fox News keep up such brilliant participation in the discourse.

For Southpaw, Especially: World of Warcraft Forum Bloggers Debate Palin Sex Scandal

As far as we have gathered from Andrew Sullivan's objective fact-hunting, "Todd Palin's former business partner, Scott Alan Richter, who is now divorced and was reportedly accused of an Affair with Sarah Palin," tried--and failed-- to get an emergency measure for his divorce papers to be sealed. See the Salon story here (hat tip to salon for the Palin image).

Well, if the effort to get the papers sealed has failed, then Harrogate guesses we'll know soon enough whether the Enquirer just nailed its second political hide to the wall in a month.

See the World of Warcraft bloggers doing journalistic work, here

Harrogate's Second Ever Tip of the Hat to Andrew "Reagan Was Awesome But Gays Should Have Rights" Sullivan

Harrogate's gotta hand it to Sully. Since the scope of Palin's social conservatism has begun to emerge centerstage, he's been going after her with everything he's got.

Nor is the "human interest" angle for attacking Palin, that Supa mentioned yesterday, lost on his Sullyness. Take this particular entry, for example.

Tip of the Hat for Armando

Armando (AKA Big Tent Democrat) over at TalkLeft has what will likely stand out as the Political Blog Post of the Day.

After the Obama campaign tossed General Wes Clark under the bus for stating the obvious, that getting shot down in an airplane is not command experience, they better get used to this

[McCain spokeperson] Nicolle Wallace: ""The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous."


Sure it's stupid, but stupid works when you don't push back

Now first of all, Harrogate is by no means a Clark cheerleader, but it is fair to say that he has been a voice of reason in the mainstream public discourse. Which aint exactly something we've got such a surplus of that we can afford to sideline such voices in the name of some perceived political expediency.

But while that is the primary concern of BTD, it is by far the lesser concern for Harrogate. From a Rhetorical perspective, Harrogate isn't even sure what kind of Logical Fallacy this is, that Nicolle Wallace is pushing here. Christ on a crumb heap, it might be all of them.

The only comparable statement that Harrogate can think of is when Bush underling Karen Hughes said, in 2002, that after 9/11 more Americans were "valuing life," which meant, naturally, that a majority was now clamoring for Roe to be overturned. Hughes was not hammered for the statement, nor did she ever retract, or even qualify it. Remember, Readers, how Bush surrogates always referred to him as "Commander in Chief" to quell criticism of his domestic policies, ranging from Tax Policy to Education to Abortion to Faith Based Initiatives to Social Security? How dare they pick at the "Commander in Chief" during a time of war? Etc.

With McCain what we're going to get is, he got tortured and he's our "Commander in Chief" during a time of war. So, do the patriotic thing and stop making his Judiciary Appointments so difficult.

The Big Question is, Why O Why are people allowed to make public statements like Nicolle Wallace's, and then retain credibility? Indeed, one might ask, why don't they get hit with rotten tomatos everywhere they go?

Sunday Musical Tribute, & Tip of the Hat to Megs & Solon

And while we're on the subject, here's another