Gimme a Reason

There's a reason to even mention Jonass Goldberg's so-called book Liberal Fascism here.

More here and here

Please join in! It's way cheaper than buying the book and it makes a serious argument with even more care than Goldberg does, especially in his so-called book Liberal Fascism .*

* For those needing a variant spelling, the second word of the title is often misspelled, like this: Liberal Facism

The Lesson

Here's the lesson, Republican candidates:

You can say your favorite political philosopher is Jesus Christ, provided it's a lie and you really revere Ayn Rand or the part of Hayek that urges you to lie to what Peggy Noonan calls the "idiotic voters" whose religious votes you seek.

Instead, support the thrice-married, unrepetantly adulterous, gay-approving, abortion-supporting man who really represents your sole ideals: authoritarianism and supply-side bullshit. The money-men demand that.

How the Queen charmed the pants off me: Confessions of an old Leftie

Billy Bragg Meets the Queen.

Good on him.

The truly shocking thing is that he wrote it for The Daily Mail.

Rosenberg On Feith

How did people like Feith manage to sell this country on a disastrously foolish war that had no real positives for the United States? I have a feeling M.J. Rosenberg at TPM Cafe may be onto something here. It's pretty blistering:

I'm a Washingtonian and have known about Feith for some 25 years. Until this administration and this war came along, I had no idea that he had any interests in life other than promoting West Bank settlements. He was (and is) the most outspoken Likudnik in the Washington Jewish community, basically a very fringy character (viciously anti-Rabin, anti-Oslo, anti-peace). I would not have guessed that he could find the United States on a map, so utterly and completely involved is he with the Israeli far right.

All Neocons aren't Jewish. But almost all of them, Christian, Jewish and otherwise, seem to be dedicated to Likudnik view of the Middle East. I don't think such a hardline view is in the best interests of the U.S. I think the folly of the Iraq adventure supports that view.

Mickey Kaus: Separated at Birth?

One of the above is Mickey Kaus. One of the above is Mickey Kaus as Secretary of Education played by an actor in Idiocracy. *

See the scene that captures Kaus' intellect and intellectual integrity!

* That's Mike Judge's movie, Idiocracy.

Monumental News

Just learned that Count Arthur Strong will be presenting a third series of Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! on BBC4 commencing in late December. Regular readers will know how important Count Arthur Strong is to any decent person's ethos.

Quoting from the invaluable promotional email:

On BBC Radio 4

First things first! In case you missed the first two episodes, the highly acclaimed second series of Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! is being repeated on BBC Radio 4. You can hear Count Arthur Strong every Tuesday at 6.30pm. Tune in this evening!

This is the perfect opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the Count in preparation for the Third Series of Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! This will air on BBC Radio 4 at 11.30am every Friday from December 28th.

So, over the festive period you'll have the chance to hear the grand finale of Series 2 at 6.30pmon Christmas Day, followed by the much anticipated first episode of Series 3 at 11.30amon December 28th. And that's not all! Count Arthur Strong will be making a special guest appearance on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours on Christmas Eve at 12pm.

This is the news the world has been waiting for. There are few things better than Count Arthur Strong.

Other news from the Count's email bulletin:

• the Series 2 box set of Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! will be available to pre-order through the Count's website
  
• The 2007 tour of Count Arthur Strong - The Musical?has been extended into 2008
  
• The Komedia Brighton performance of Count Arthur Strong - The Musical?on January 27th is to be filmed for later DVD release. Tickets are now sold out, but keep an eye on the website for news of the DVD release!

Here's Count Arthur Strong's Infanet Web Site