Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

"I'm not kidding you, you put him on a balcony in a military uniform, this guy is a full-fledged dictator...He's a sociopath!"
—Glenn Beck on President Obama

dictator |ˈdikˌtātər|
noun
1 a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained power by force.
• a person who tells people what to do in an autocratic way or who determines behavior in a particular sphere: the prewar era was a period whose apple-cheeked dictator was Doris Day.
• (in ancient Rome) a chief magistrate with absolute power, appointed in an emergency.

sociopath |ˈsōsēōˌpaTH|
noun
a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.

I don't think so. I love the media's failure to use words correctly. I love the conservatives forever pronouncing Obama as a wuss or a tyrant. Wouldn't a tyrant have more leverage with Putin? Must have been wearing his wuss panties that day. Can't have it both ways, sweetum's.

I'm reminded of a Star Trek comedy routine that I heard long ago.

Dr. McCoy: I'm a doctor, dammit, not a floor wax!
Announcer: But wait! The NEW Dr. McCoy IS a doctor AND a floor wax!
Dr. McCoy: He's dead, Jim, BUT LOOK AT THAT SHINE!


I'm also reminded of the first episode of the new BBC series Sherlock where a female cop tells Watson to watch out for Sherlock because he's a psychopath. He replies, "I am not, I'm a highly-functioning sociopath."

No, I don't know why I was reminded of that routine. My brain is a dark and occasionally frightening place.

"He's a traitor."
-- House Speaker John Boehner on Edward Snowden

"Hero of the Year."
-- Michael Moore

"Treason...Bring back the death penalty."
-- Fox News analyst Ralph Peters

"The man for which I have waited. Earmarks of a real hero."
-- Glenn Beck

"An act of treason."
-- Sen. Dianne Feinstein

"When you have a dictatorship or an authoritarian government, truth becomes treasonous...For somebody to tell the American people the truth is a heroic effort."
-- Ron Paul

I really, REALLY, hate agreeing with Glenn Beck about something! At least it's over something worthwhile.

"If there is one guy out there that is the next George Washington, the only guy that I could think of is Rick Santorum"
— Glenn Beck

I don't recall any connections between our first president and gay sex, but my history could be a bit off.

"Please look into protection for your family. An attempt on you could bring the Republic down."
— Glenn Beck in an email to Sarah Palin

Uh, yeah. A former governor who abandoned her elected office before her first term was up claiming that she was a "lame duck", who thinks that Paris is its own country, etc. If she were assassinated the United States would fail. Right. Perhaps the US of Glenn Beck's rather frightening mind.

I do have to take back one misconception about Palin: I found out that the "I can see Russia from my house" was not an actual Palin quote, it was Tina Fey from Saturday Night Live. Can't say that I go out of my way to follow either Palin or SNL.

The problem is, Glenn-boy, that you're not taking in to account our government structure, which was specifically engineered, in addition to providing representation, to provide redundancy. There are backups for the president. There are multiple representatives, so one being disabled for an indeterminate amount of time won't cripple the job of the House. There are other Federal judges. Those job roles will continue to be filled. Sadly, there are no more 9 year old girls born on 9/11/2001 who had just been elected in to student government, at least none just like the one we lost.

Roles will continue, people will continue, one assassination won't topple a representative democracy, especially if that person isn't in the government.

"I am not going to resign. I'm not going to back down. I have come to a place where I believe at some point the system will destroy me."
-- Glenn Beck

When suddenly, his lower intestine leaped up and strangled his brain, thus saving the planet.

"If I were in charge, we'd be interrogating him. And we'd interrogate him and interrogate him and interrogate him...and then we'd shoot him in the head."
-- Glenn Beck on Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, recently captured in Pakistan

It's so nice to know that due process of law, in a civilian or military court, is so respected by media pundits.

"When they're done with Fox and talk radio, do you really think that they'll leave you alone, if you want to ask a tough question?...Do you really believe, after [Obama] takes out the number one news network, do you really think that this man is then not going to turn on you...to take you out? If you believe that...you've missed the point of many brutal dictators. You've missed the point on how they always start."
-- Glenn Beck to NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN, on White House calling Fox "the communications arm of the Republican party"

The number one news network for people who like to whine that they lost an election and avoid critical thinking. There was a great segment on Daily Show last night. There was a march on Washington to get Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed like Obama promised: 75,000 people showed up and Fox didn't send out a reporter/camera crew. The best thing is that Fox has a Washington bureau overlooking the Mall: all they had to do was look out a window.

Yup, that's modern journalism for ya! The fact that you're the biggest doesn't mean you're the best.