Miscellaneous Friday

It's been a while since I've done a Miscellaneous Friday post, such as this one, however, a number of things have occurred to me that I needed to comment on in my own infantile way, so I have revived the concept from its slumber.

First, there is this story about our unbeloved Vice President, the most powerful Dick in the world. This man needs to be stopped. Again, I would like to suggest that we start by impeaching this bastard rather than going after the handpuppet he calls "Mr. President." The first step would probably be to indict him--there's a whole list of things to choose from to accomplish this--and then impeach him. With any luck, the trial on whatever he was indicted on wouldn't begin until after January 20, 2009, so that the handpuppet would be unable to pardon the jerk.

In my ideal world, he would then get taken to as many town squares as possible and placed in stocks so that people could pelt him with rotten fruit provided at the taxpayer's expense. A jail term is probably the best we could hope for. He needs to be humilated, though, and taught the lesson that no one--and I mean no one--is above the law in this country. In fact, were I running for President, I would make putting Mr. Cheney in jail for the duration of his worthless life a plank on my campaign platform.

Next, today's Times features a review of the new movie A Mighty Heart, which happens to star Angelina Jolie. My comment is not about the movie, which I have not seen and probably won't just because who needs it. I mean, it's easy enough to get depressed without paying $9.50 a ticket for the privilege.

No, what interests me is this phrase that appears in the review: "Mr. Pearl was a casualty of Islamist hatred of Western civilization." I'll come right out and say it. That notion is plain wrong. First, who is Manohla Dargis to decide that every adherent of Islam hates Western Civilization? That can't possibly true and is, in fact, merely prejudice dressing itself up as received wisdom.

Second, the Muslims who thought up the attacks on 9/11 weren't driven by hate, I think, as much as fear. And it's not so much Western civilization that irks them, as it is American pop culture. They might have disdain for Bach or Socrates, but it's Michael Jackson and Desperate Housewives that get their panties in a knot. They fear the same things that our homegrown religious fundamentalists do: TV, short skirts, and the rock 'n' roll music. If Footloose taught us anything, it is that rock music leads to dancing, which leads to premarital sex and other kinds of fun. As religous fanatics, they fear secularism. They revere the past and loath the future. They prefer a universe in which man is the whole point of the existence of the planet Earth, a planet that sits serenely at the center of the seven spheres.

So, let's stop talking about them hating Western civilization or our freedoms. This is an enemy who must be understood in order to be defeated. We can't do that with platitudes.

There was something else that I wanted to spout off about, but it is gone. It's probably just as well.