Friday, January 28, 2005
Mom's Right Again
"When you are angry and tempted to write a letter, write it, then put it in a drawer overnight before you send it." Did your mother ever tell you that? It's good advice. Billie Miller of Ridgecrest, California, probably should have taken it. Billie is the one who wrote to the local paper blasting liberals and criticizing the paper for printing their words, and who concluded with, "Either you are a good conservative with God or you are not with God." People from around the world responded with a blizzard of letters (Atrios links to them here), and yesterday, Billie wrote again to climb off that earlier letter. Of course, conservatives are going to hit the roof screeching how liberals intimidated this good Christian into backing down. But if Billie was intimidated, it wasn't in any immoral or unethical manner. In fact, it was a textbook example of how a free society works. The best remedy for bad ideas is better ideas. Billie exercised the right to free speech (albeit while suggesting that free speech should be denied to others people with differing views), and so did the community--and the community's ideas prevailed.
Quote of the Day: Chicago Sun-Times gossip columnist Michael Sneed is reporting today that Alan Keyes is planning a bid for Illinois governor in 2006. Hey, all he has to do is turn 21 percent of the 70 percent who voted against him last time, but once you've convinced yourself that Jesus is coming back, you can get yourself to believe anything is possible. Fly Trap gets QotD for its campaign advice to Keyes, including a suggestion to consort with hookers and sterilize them against their will. "And don't forget to do your darndest to lose the few mental faculties you still possess. If Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kentucky taught us anything, being a right-wing nutjob is just not enough to secure the V in today's GOP."
"When you are angry and tempted to write a letter, write it, then put it in a drawer overnight before you send it." Did your mother ever tell you that? It's good advice. Billie Miller of Ridgecrest, California, probably should have taken it. Billie is the one who wrote to the local paper blasting liberals and criticizing the paper for printing their words, and who concluded with, "Either you are a good conservative with God or you are not with God." People from around the world responded with a blizzard of letters (Atrios links to them here), and yesterday, Billie wrote again to climb off that earlier letter. Of course, conservatives are going to hit the roof screeching how liberals intimidated this good Christian into backing down. But if Billie was intimidated, it wasn't in any immoral or unethical manner. In fact, it was a textbook example of how a free society works. The best remedy for bad ideas is better ideas. Billie exercised the right to free speech (albeit while suggesting that free speech should be denied to others people with differing views), and so did the community--and the community's ideas prevailed.
Quote of the Day: Chicago Sun-Times gossip columnist Michael Sneed is reporting today that Alan Keyes is planning a bid for Illinois governor in 2006. Hey, all he has to do is turn 21 percent of the 70 percent who voted against him last time, but once you've convinced yourself that Jesus is coming back, you can get yourself to believe anything is possible. Fly Trap gets QotD for its campaign advice to Keyes, including a suggestion to consort with hookers and sterilize them against their will. "And don't forget to do your darndest to lose the few mental faculties you still possess. If Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kentucky taught us anything, being a right-wing nutjob is just not enough to secure the V in today's GOP."
