Know Thine Opposition

I often read the views of people whose positions I have a track record of disagreeing with. (Whereas actually WATCHING them on TV sometimes makes me apoplexic and I'm forced to shut them off, lest I scream at the TV; Bill O'Reilly I won't even try to view.)

So I'm reading the latest from Ann Coulter, Obama Birth Certificate Spotted In Bogus Moon Landing Footage, where she cleverly compares the birthers to a bunch of conspiracy theories from the left, both implausible -"Sarah Palin's infant child, Trig, was actually the child of her daughter" and possible - "the 2000 election was stolen". Just because I oppose her views most of the time doesn't mean I don't think she's not clever in constructing straw men to knock down.

Meanwhile, Chuck Norris notes in What Obama and My Wife Have in Common that Obama and Chuck's wife Gena have a birthday in the same week (Barack - August 4; Gena - August 9.) He then ties Obama's birthday to the birther movement. (Hey, *I* did that; I think like Chuck Norris!) But of course he took a different tactic: "Refusing to post your original birth certificate is an unwise political and leadership decision that is enabling the "birther" controversy. The nation you are called to lead is experiencing a growing swell of conspirators who are convinced that you are covering up something. So why not just prove them wrong and shut them up?" The particular fun stuff is in the letters of comment.

I was reading somewhere that while their parents grouse that liberals (Barbra Streisand, Sean Penn, Al Franken SENATOR Al Franken) should keep out of politics, it's OK for Chuck Norris or the late Charlton Heston (or, of course, Ronald Reagan). I never biought into that mindset, BTW. How does being an actor (or singer) somehow negate one's right to participate in the democratic process?

Anyway, I didn't get much sleep, so here's former sportscaster Keith Olbermann's recent rant on health care, which I agree with.
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Peace Through Music Film Trailer
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Friend Walter and his wife went to see the Lovin' Spoonful recently. The group (sans John Sebastian) performed a song, not an orginal, he'd heard before and wanted to know what it was. It has the lyrics:
Ah-ha-ha-ha (ha-ha-ha-ha)
Hey-oh (hey-oh)
Koo-ba, koo-ba, koo-ba, koo-ba
(Koo-ba, koo-ba, koo-ba, koo-ba)
Ah-ha-ha-ha (ah-ha-ha-ha)
Ah-ah-ah-ha (ah-ha-ha-ha)
Hey-oh (hey-oh)
It was Don't You Just Know It by Huey (Piano) Smith & The Clowns from 1958; went to #9 on the pop charts. (If link doesn't work, try this.) Here's a version by C.J. Chenier from 1996.


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