Newsflash: Druid Still a Fool!

We already know that the "Archbishop" of Canterbury is a fool, but now we know that he is a thin-skinned fool as well.

I might think that Rowan Williams is a Turd, but I will defend to the death your right to say that he is really just a little turdlet.

And that is about as far as I will bend to Liberalism.

Why do these people draw salaries?

Here is some more alarmist junk science. In this case there is probably a factual basis to it, but it begs the question "so what?" Yes, there are probably more heart attacks during major sports events. There are probably more heart attacks during sexual intercourse, too. That is life. Scientists could spend their time investigating far more interesting things, things which reveal new facets of great mysteries. If they really want to pursue this sort of trivia, then they should do so on their own time and their own dime.

Sometimes you just want to shake people...

For instance, TSO. You just want to grab him by the lapels and vigorously agitate him while shouting "NO! Romney is not a conservative!""

First, he was, deep breath now, Governor of Massachussetts. Real conservatives don't get elected Governor of Massachussetts. Now he wants the Republican vote, so he puts on his "conservative" clothes (although given his pagan faith, he probably wears a necktie with a short-sleeve shirt) for the primary. Guess what? With that track record, he will change for the General Election.

And...he still is a friggin Mormon. As in pseudo-Christian, polytheist, fake-Gospel-believing sucker. Whenever a Mormon wants to talk about the Book of Mormon, always redirect the conversation to the Pearl of Great Price. And be sure to talk a lot about Kolob and the Celestial Mother. Then ask them what monotheirsm means to them.

It is one thing to be a heretic. I don't think that I have ever voted for any presidential candidate who wasn't one. It is one thing to be a Jew or a Mohammedan. I have voted for Jews for public office, although the Mohammedan would have to be running against someone really repellent for me to choose him over a Christian of any stripe. But a pagan? Especially a pagan who pretends not to be a pagan? One who pretends to be a conservative (at least for this election)?

You have got to be kidding!

TSO! Voting for a Mormon is not possible for a Catholic. Back McCain!

The Mormon is Going Down!

The Mormon lost Florida! This should be the first duty of all Christians: to keep a Mormon or any other professed pagan out of the White House. So far so good.

Happy Belated Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

I was going to post something earlier that would have not had the "belated" part, but was swamped today. Anyway, I hope you had a good Feast Day. I did. I learned from Fr. Michael Sweeney, OP, that St. Thomas is also the patron of chefs. And that he loved pickled herring. I will have to try some. When one gets a food recommendation from a Saint, particularly a Saint of Thomas' girth, one does not take it lightly.

It would seem, then, that eating pickled herring is not fitting for a saint...

You fill in the rest!

Oh the Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain!

We are drenched, but not in any serious risk from the storm (we live near the crest of a sandstone hill, so there is no real danger from slides or floods here). Other parts of our semi-arid state, however are not faring as well. And there are flood warnings in our general area. With another storm moving in, we could be in for a doozy. At least in Northern California we get regular wet winters, so we are much better able to deal with this sort of thing than the South. Sometimes when I am down there I look at housing developments being built on alluvial fans and just shake my head. Geology gives a pretty good indication of what to expect at some point in the future, and building on debris flow tailings has always struck me as a not-too-clever invitation to disaster. Likewise, the building in parts of the Sacramento Valley that have traditionally been flood prone strikes me as similarly unwise. Why do people do it? Short-sightedness combined with federally guaranteed flood insurance. Also, local governments eager for more tax revenues tend to relax their vigilance. Now, try to build a perfectly decent building in an established area and you get more red tape and idiotic zoning codes than you can shake a stick at, but when it is a thousand cheaply built homes sold at outrageous prices in a low-lying area near an ill-maintained levee, and they bend over backwards.

Chicken or Pork in Achiote

This dish can either be done with chicken (preferably thighs with skin and bones) or pork (bone-in shoulder is perfect).

The preparation is simple:

In a blender mix a generous lump of achiote paste (a seasoning from the Yucatan made with anatto and other spices) with lime juice and orange juice. The result should look like paint of a color that you could dress up an Indian temple with. Place your meat in a pot with a tight fitting lid and pour the achiote paint into the pot, ensuring that the meat is well coated, although it need not be completely covered (it should be nearly completely covered, though). Put on the lid and place in a 300 degree oven and let it cook until the meat is falling off the bone.

Serve with hot corn tortillas, slices of fresh or roasted chilies, beans, rice, and thinly sliced onions marinated in salt, lime juice and Mexican oregano. For a wine, go with a Californian syrah or pinot noir, if you prefer red, or a sauvignon blanc if you prefer white.

Don'e blame me if you overeat.

Warning: Space Music Afoot

Yes, the rumors are true. My friend Mike and I did indeed build a Theremin, and it does indeed work.

I now have this uncontrollable urge to make science fiction B movies.

How's this:

It is an astronaut's funeral on a remote moon. All the astronauts are in space suits. One astronaut in a plaid space suit comes along and plays "Amazing Grace" on the theremin?

Anyway, while most people think of the theremin as the spooky sound of sci-fi, it can also make uncannily real sounding bird calls.

We are going to make some modifications to it, and then we will start making some music with the thing. One of the things I want to do is to run the audio out through a wah pedal.

By the way, if you are playing with a theremin, Duke Ellington's "Caravan" works particularly well, once you get the hang of it.

On the GOP

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Republican. However, I found out that it is not too late to reregister as one for the primary. Normally I would pass it up, but the best way to stop the Mormon is to vote for McCain. As far as Hillary and Osama, I would like to stop Hillary, but keeping a Mormon out of the White House is much more important. As I have written here before, if Romney were to get the GOP nomination, I would be obliged to vote for either Democrat. Since I absolutely hate voting for Democrats, the best bet is to work to get McCain into the GOP slot.

No Mormons.
Not Now. Not Ever.
Mitt, Repent and Retire!

Liturgical Grumbling

As many of my readers know, I am a heel-clicker who salutes authority. Therefore, the form of the mass that is used by the Supreme Pontiff is the one that I prefer and the one, barring serious cultural handicap (Eastern heritage, for instance), that you should to. Since it is a continutation of the prior form of the mass, I give a slight nod to the older missal.

So you could say that I have my feet in both camps, although my Right foot is in the camp of the Latin mass, sung in Latin, according to its ordinary form (not, however, the vernacular nastiness with guitars and pianas and all that crap, which, as it is an abuse of the best, is worse than the most Eastern of the Eastern rites). Now, I certainly have nothing against Easterners being Eastern, really. What I am against are Westerners who go East. Those people should just grow up.

East is East.
West is West.
All must submit to the Pope.

But, when I read the comments posted here, as suggested by Mr. Culbreath, it makes my Right foot inch over to the 1962 side of the line.

First: anyone who used the word "elitist" is an idiot.

Second: I like not being scandalized by having women crawling all over the sanctuary. It is one of those things that the Greeks get. Women have their sphere, and it is a broad and wonderful one, and it can even overlap in some areas with that of men. I don't have objections to them being doctors, I don't have objections to them being artists, in theory, although there are very few women who get even close. I don't like the idea of a woman President, but if the Republicans put that Mormon turd up for the office, I will vote for the monotheist candidate who can best defeat him, and that might be Hillary. But I do have objections to them playing at Priestcraft, and the best way to nip that nonsense in the bud is to simply kick them out of the sanctuary altogether. I don't even like it when they go in there to do the cleaning and flower arranging, but it is not the end of the world. Lectrices are not the end of the world either, but I am glad that I don't have to listen to them. And Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, when they become Ordinary, offend me no matter what their sex. But altar boys should be altar boys. Period. Many vocations come from the ranks of altar boys. Girls cannot become priests, never will be able to become priests, and should not be encouraged in that direction. The idea of ordaining women is the single most evil notion to gain currency in the last century. While neo-Pagan Nazism was bad, it was not as bad a blow at the one thing that eternally matters: the Sacraments. Satan's triumph over the Englisch was made much longer by enticing the Anglitics into "ordaining" women. It virtually ensures that a segment of the Sect of England will remain forever in Satan's grasp, even when the rest leave the fold for Truer Pastures. And the rot starts with the wimpy priests who open up altar service to one and all, regardless of sex. Keep the girls out of it. If we had to have altar girls at our mass, that would be it. 1962 missal and never look back. I am not so keen on male nurses either, by the way. It is just creepy.

Third: Just as we must credit the reforms and their abuses for the superb quality of most of the Extraordinary Form masses today, we must credit those Extraordinary Form masses for keeping pressure on the reform of the reform. I would not have thought this a few years ago, but I would not be surprised to see the novus ordo eventually scrapped as a failed experiment. If it isn't, it will be made more robust to the abuses of the liturgical whores who abuse it. Either way, I am fine with it. I will click my heels and will salute and be happy. But without the pressure and example of the Extraordinary Form the loudest voice would be those daft old biddies in those blue outfits, sashaying around the church with incense bowls.

You know, I think there are whole levels of Hell full of middle aged and older women dancing around with incence bowls.

Briefly Noted

1. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Amalia needs to start studying Ray Harryhausen, and Sinbad seemed like a good introduction. It was, although Jason and the Argonauts would probably have been better. Or perhaps one of the dinosaur movies. Anyway, not only is it always fun to watch Harryhausen films, but the DVD has a lot of fun goodies: interviews, behind the scenes stuff, etc. It goes on a bit longer than a non Harryhausen fanatic would want, although a Harryhausen fanatic is certainly going to enjoy some of this stuff.

2. Abuelita Mexican Chocolate. I have been meaning to mention this for awhile. Avoid this crap. Stick with Ibarra. Amalia thought that there was something amiss on her first sip. When a six year old finds something that is sweet and chocolatey displeasing, you know it's gotta be caca.

3. Netflix. I have mentioned this before, but I am still quite smitten with Netflix, although the limit of 500 films on a queue is irritating. OK. Obvioulsy I am not putting so many movies on the list with the intention of seeing them right away, or even at all, but it is a great tool when I hear about a film to just slap it on the list. Then I can look into it later and keep it or reject it. I only really bother to keep the top 15 in any sort of order, because I doubt that I will go through that many films without checking up on the list. Give me 1000!

Let's Get Something Perfectly Clear...

I like Franco. I admire Franco. I hear the word "Franco" and I think of "Heroic Virtue."

Franco loved Spain. I love Spain.

However, I am realistic about the Spaniards. They are incapable of ruling themselves. When given the choice, they seem to almost always gravitate to the worst. And yet, from among them come some incredible expressions of Western Culture.

These days, however, are looking pretty dim for the Spanish people. They are rejecting lyrics for the national anthem because they begin with "Long Live Spain?" If this "reeks of the Franco era" then they need to think very seriously of recreating the Franco era.

I know. I have a good national anthem in mind. It would, in fact, be a good national anthem for many parts of the world. It was written by Franz Josef Haydn...

All together now...

"Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles!"

If that can still be the anthem of Germany, surely the Spaniards could wish themselves longevity.

These are people in need of cojones.

This Will Not Do...

No. We cannot have the Mormon winning primaries. South Carolina, the ball is in your court.

Stop the Mormon. The fate of the nation depends on it.

Deutschland, Deutschland!

I never would have guessed that my fellow Teutons would be the ones to stand up against the petty tyrants of the secular neo-puritanism. Perhaps they remember what happened the last time an anti-smoking crusader was in charge over there.

Anyway, it makes my blue eyes water, ever so slightly, to think that it might be my Volk who resist and turn the tide.

Characters

Last night we were talking about how awful the acting and dialog was in the last of the Star Wars movies. If you haven't seen it, well, it stinks. Cardboard cutouts stiffly delivering awful lines. Really, even worse than Mark Hamill in the first movie. OK. Maybe not worse, or that much worse, but worse.

However, the thing with The Return of the Sith is that it is still a good story and a thoroughly enjoyable film. The pacing is good, the music works, the visuals are Geroge Lucas good, and you get through the film happy.

How important are characters? I tend to favor characters over story and, thus, prefer post-war European films to the Story! Story! Story! of Hollywood. But I have to recognize that a good story can also do perfectly well without good characters.

I have come up with a way of telling whether or not the author is creating good characters: if the Gastapo were to be inserted in the middle of the book and were to round up the characters to be hauled off to death camps, which characters would you care about? Sometimes it might be all of them. Sometimes it might just be a few, and they might be evenly distributed among the good guys and the bad guys, as it really has nothing to do with whether you like the character or not. It has to do with whether or not the author has actually crafted people out of the words. If he has, then you simply could not stand to have the Gastapo haul them away. Even the bad ones. If they need punishment, you want them to have creative punishments, perhaps ironic punishments, perhaps nasty, cruel, long-drawn out punishments, dealt out by a good guy who might have a sadistic streak as his flaw. But not the cold, efficient bureaucratic death of the Gastapo.

Pride and Prejudice is an example of a book where the whole load of characters could be taken off to Dachau and I, for one, would only hope that perhaps the chirpy narrator might be shocked out of her stupor long enough to write something interesting for once.

If, on the other hand, Odysseus had been arrested and loaded into the green minna somewhere after his encounter with the cyclops, it would feel absurd, an outrage! At one level it would call to mind Monty Python's Holy Grail, but on the other, it would be like blasting all humanity in the face.

Now, the films that have neither characters nor stories, those have their place as well, so long as they are beautifully filmed and musically made. Anyway. Lunch is nearing its tragic end. I hope the Gastapo doesn't cart off my grilled cheese sandwich.

More Anti-Smoking Follies

This article laments that the states are, for the most part, using the much-touted tobacco settlement on all sorts of things other than "smoking prevention." Good! If they are to get a windfall, which they shouldn't have in this case, they should use it to the best advantage of the common good. Now, if the logic for the settlement was that the money was to compensate states for medical costs, an assumption that is absurd, but that is the rhetoric behind it, then the money they spent was a shame because they should have been spending their money on all sorts of other things. So when the money comes in, it should be spent on those things that were allegedly ignored.

Now, how about that notion that smoking costs states money? Well, if, and that is a big if, one that rests on the secular neo-Puritan assumption that all smoking results in disease and death, smoking results in massive premature deaths, then smoking has saved the states money. Because a forgotten fact is that we have a 100% mortality rate. A jogging, teetotalling non-smoker is eventually going to die, and with the state of modern health care, his death is going to be an expensive one. Not only that, but if we take the notion that a smoker is cutting down his life by 14 years (one figure that has been bandied about recently), that is 14 years off the latter years of his life, years that in the healthiest people generally see more sickness. In 14 years, a nonsmoker can rack up quite a health tab these days. So, if someone's excessive smoking kills him at 68, we can be pretty confident that his nonsmoking brother, who lives to 82 is going to have a variety of treatments for the natural ailments of old age that the smoker will not need (and at inflationary prices, or even higher, as medical costs are outstripping inflation). Also, think of the retirement burden that has been lifted from society from the premature death!

However, the idiocy that "smoking costs society" is held as something self-evident.

What it boils down to is the old notion of a "sin tax." States with high tobacco taxes, provided that they aren't so high that they engender a black market, as they have in many parts of Europe, rely on people continuing to buy cigarettes. If they lost this tax revenue, they would be strapped. They know this. So they have just enough anti-smoking propoganda to continue to demonize "the evil weed" and to justifu the taxes. The societal cost of smoking is nothing more than a cynical smokescreen.

Sculpey...oh what fun!

I have never played much with oven-hardening polymer clay before, but I thought that it would be fun for "Art and Science" days. So, we went out and picked up a 30-color sampler pack of Sculpey III. When we got home our "official" project was to make a beetle, and we did: a handsome silver and hot pink elm borer (I let Amalia have some license with the colors, so long as the markings were in the same place as on the scientific drawing). It was a great lesson and gave us a chance to have fun while discussing the anatomy of the order coleoptera.

Of course we had to do a few other projects and, at some point, it clicked with Amalia that the possibilities were close to endless. Naturally we are out of hot pink and purple is getting low.

Anyway, for those with or without kids, this stuff is a blast. It comes in all sorts of colors (and it can be tinted and blended), it hardens quickly in a common oven, it is nontoxic, and is fairly cheap.

I think I may have to build a miniature bullring.

The End of an Era

Well, in this case, the era already ended, in 1998. But, still, there is something nice about a former dictator who is ending his days without being in prison (or senile in office: Sr. Castro?). Dictators should retire, and it is worth remembering Suharto as a valuable asset in the Southeastern Asian struggle against Communism. When I was involved in things Indonesian it was the twilight of his reign. Most of the Balinese folks I knew detested him, and probably for good reason. Even the Indonesian officials were clearly not cheerleading with their full, personal enthusiasm (one of my early cooking triumphs was the evening the Consul General had thirds of the curry I made). And there is, of course, a Catholic angle: Suharto was anti-Commie, but did terrible, terrible things to the Catholics of East Timor. So, in the end he was, along with Marcos, the sort of fellow who could be called a bastard, but, maybe "our" bastard, provided "our" doesn't fully include us.

So, the best thing is to pray for him for repentence. Recovery? It is probably too late. But wouldn't it be wonderful if he repented?

Briefly Noted, Again

1. The Oakland Cathedral. When they first were putting up the structure for the Oakland Cathedral, I allowed my skepticism to take a small break, as the wooden skeleton was actually a little bit appealing (not, perhaps for a church, but as a thing that defines a certain space, perhaps). Since leaving Oakland, I have not been back to see it (this is our seventh month in Vallejo). Yesterday we had a couple of errands to do in Oakland, and we drove by. It has become even uglier than the drawings. The addition of glass to the whole thing makes it out and out hideous. Now, they are not finished, so I am reserving my final judgement until then, but if it keeps going the direction it is going, the thing will be too tawdry and wrongly-proportioned to serve as the lobby of a Marriott hotel. Let us pray that the diocese sells the thing to some bank or government agency (it is far too ghastly to be a restaurant, although the big wide open space will be useless for much else), or simply decides as an act of charity and contrition to tear it down.

2. Netflix. Have I mentioned how much I love Netflix? I never considered it as a thing to do when I lived close to good video stores, but now that I don't, I am liking Netflix even better than the local good video store I used to enjoy. What a deal! And I can browse in the middle of the night, early in the morning, whenever.

Recess is over. The student (who is in full pirate mode, thanks to the recent gift of a toy pirate gun and belt) insists that our school is now "pirate school." Ahoy there me hearties!

Briefly Noted...

Underdog. This was a surprise. I expected to hate it or at least only be mildly amused by it. I had never seen the original cartoon, so perhaps I had no expectations of the original character to have dashed to pieces, but Melanie was fond of the original cartoon, and we both loved the film. Very funny. Not great, high art, just funny, with some clever lines and moments.

Wheat the Springeth Green by J.F. Powers. Excellent book. This was the second Powers book I have read (Morte d'Urban was the first), and it has the same piercing view of the priesthood. Well written, with good, well-developed characters. Read it.

Star Wars, Episode II, The Attack of the Clones. I hated this movie the first time I saw it. I only saw it again, because we are doing the Star Wars marathon for Amalia (a few months ago I realized that she had never seen Star Wars: any of them, although she could pick Yoda out of a lineup - so we started with the original three and have been working through the whole thing). I was surprised at how much better I liked it. Part of it is that the idiotic dialog and ham acting are now expected. And Jar Jar is only in it briefly. Anyway, I upgraded my Netflix rating to Three Stars.

More later.

Bullfights

I am planning on perhaps two trips this year to my favorite border town. So, naturally, I will be keeping my eye on this site, which I highly recommend to any with taurine interests in California. When I know more about when I am going, I will post details. I am always up for lunch at Chiki Jai before the bulls! Not to mention an espresso and cigar at my favorite cigar shop/cafe down the street.

Crickets and a Gecko

One of the fun things about sharing a house with a lizard, is that you have an excuse to harbor crickets. Now, Obviously the lizard loves scarfing the chirping little buggers down, but there is a part of me that eyes the cage and thinks, "wow! we could have a fun St. John the Baptist feast!"

Does anyone have any particular words of wisdom on raising and preparing crickets for human consumption?

I await your advice.

Reasons to Smoke

I am going to post a sporadic series, as I feel like it, on the good things about smoking.

1. Not smoking tends to make people stupid.

Alright. I admit it: I still have an AOL account. It is not because I like it, but because I have it, and it is now free, and I subscribe to some lists that use that account. So, once or twice a day I log on to AOL and see the various teasers for stories. There are always little tidbits that promise good health advice, which generally ranges from the commonsensical (get off your butt once in awhile) to the dubious (drink X glasses of water every day - oh, wait, they are backing down from that one these days) to the downright harmful (follow the current official dietary guidlines). Now, since "Heath" is a religion, and it is a puritan faith, it has something like sacraments, but they are more anti-sacraments: strict guidelines of what to avoid, realizing that the more you can avoid something, the more Healthific Grace you get. Since the Puritan Faiths are those of binary oppositions, moderation is really not taken into account. Something is bad or it is Healthy, and if it is bad, the slightest whiff will make you die at thirty. Naturally the King of the Puritan Anti-Sacraments is Smoking.

So, at some point in any of these idiotic pieces, you get the obligatory attack at smoking, along with the tsk tsking of "can you believe that people still smoke?"

In the most recent of these, they tsked tsked the person who bums the odd smoke when out with friends (you know, a cigarette once in awhile is the same as four packs a day) and gave the stern admonishment that smoking kills 438,000 people a day! That works out to some 159,870,000 per year!

Perhaps these folks should find someone with some mind-stimulating tobacco smoke in them to help them with the figures.

Of course it is not necessarily "not smoking" that makes people stupid, but anti-smoking activism. And it tends to be the same sort of thing with the anti-fat crowd, the anti-sugar gastapo (I shouldn't link the Gastapo with such fanatics, though. Unfair), the MADD/Seventh Day Adventist folks, etc.

Mormon Loses Iowa!

Not only did the Mormon lose Iowa, but so did Clinton!

Obviously I am not much of a Huckabee fan, but Romney losing Iowa makes him officially a loser, and that is one more card stacked against him. As for Hussein Osama, well, tee hee hee hee. Just when you think the Demos couldn't get any dumber...

But the scary reality of a pagan in the White House has just moved one notch, ever so slightly, away.

Goose Risotto

This recipe might not be of use to too many of you, since you first have to roast a goose, stuffed with herbs and garlic and currents, and basted with a mixture of red wine and creme de cassis. It is very good, and you will have a goose carcass (not to mention a lot of good goose fat) afterwards. You make a stock of the carcass, adding in the roasted neck and giblets (minus the liver). You will also want to make some pancetta from the neck skin before you roast the goose (season the raw skin with allspice, pepper, clove, thyme, bay, and grappa. Let it sit in the icebox for a couple of days, then use or freeze).

You start the risotto in the standard way: heat up butter, olive oil and goose fat. Then fry some finely chopped goose pancetta and then some whole, peeled cloves of garlic. Add your onion, fry, then add diced carrot and celery. Fry for a couple of minutes, then add your arborio rice. Fry for about four minutes. Add a cup of red wine and reduce the liquid out. Then lower the heat and add a handful of currents and the hot stock, stirring, in the normal manner. As the rice approaches being done, fry the skin and fatty bits and add the lean bits in chunks to the rice. When it is cooked, add the fried fatty bits, along with the pan grease and a shot of creme de cassis. Cook for a little bit, and serve, topped with chopped parsley with a good red wine.

If this recipe is too vague and you want specific details, holler and I will provide.

Overheard at Chez Keilholtz

I did not prompt Amalia, and, in fact, have never used this term, so you can imagine my pride when she asked, "where is Britainistan?"

I answered, "it is not quite there yet, but it will be unless the Englisch ever become men."

Amalia, replied, "but where is it?"

"Oh, it's on some insignificant rocks off the coast of France. Great place for Luftwaffe practice."

"Stop," Melanie, who has sympathy for those devils, interjected.

Yet, before she could launch her defense of Stilton and Churchill, Amalia pulled a cloth over her head, chadoor style and said, in a proposterous faux-Victorian Queenie accent, "we are in Britainistan!"

Remind me to award her an Iron Cross, First Class.

Wasting money on AIDS

OK. I am insensitive. I know that. Everyone knows that. I have been taking the "cruel and insensitive" Gottesgericht approach to AIDS for years: if you are worried about AIDS, quit *^*^ing everything that moves. When Georgie Porgie, in his state of the Union address (I am sorry, but I hate that word: Union. At this point it should be called the State of the Empire, State of the Nation, State of the Anything But Union... You-nion, a cross between a leftist accusation and an onion, the most despised of vegetables. Pete Seeger, the old Communist, pronounces it exactly as it should be pronounced, as a curse, an insult, a stink...ooops. Sorry. I will quit channeling Pinochet now) pledged wasting tons of money on AIDS in Africa, I gasped, I guffawed, I called him a Weenie.

All of my sober-minded and compassionate friends, in rather somber tones, replied to my, "just tell the fags to stop $%^&ing!" with a solemn and very sad reminder of the innocent victims of AIDS: children, women whose husbands screw monkeys, and all the sorts of loveliness one finds on that continent (and the first one who claims that "ooooh, if only you saw Africa you would not say such hateful, ignorant things" gets b-slapped. I have been to Africa, from Egypt to the Cape of Good Hope, and let me tell you this: it is a pit, from top to bottom. Yes there are beautiful things there, which were beautifully preserved and increased under Colonialism (yes, I am reading V.S. Naipaul these days and have been thinking about Colonialism more and more), but now the foxes are guarding the hen houses, and they have European technology at their disposal.).

Yes, I agreed, the children are innocent. The wives, whose husbands sleep with very young whores at the advice of their witch doctors, yes, innocent.

But it is still a lot of money, money that is going to be primarily wasted on promoting useless and immoral things, money that will go to a variety of wicked "public health" a-holes who will end up spending it on combatting "second-hand" smoke, so I am agin it. Agin. Agin, and, once again, Agin!

So, when I read from an AIDS profiteer that we are flushing too much money down the toilet of AIDS, I have to feel vindicated.