It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Harvey Korman.

R.I.P.

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Filed under: Freedom on Film

From (a letter to) NRO:

[W]e all knew Bush was an incompetent dolt and a liar a long time ago. After all, 50.1% of the country saw this back in 2000. Now 75% of the country realizes it. The other 25% would vote for a chimpanzee if he said he loved Jesus, hated gays and was opposed to abortion.

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Filed under: Politics is Personal, Jesus is Magic, Profiles in Governance, Mock the Vote

While it would probably be inaccurate to say that Gene Healy is a friend of F&S–basically because I highly doubt he reads our site–I can say that many of us greatly admire him. So, it is with great pride that I read this little ditty by George Will singing his new book’s praises:

But then, rhetorical—and related—excesses are inherent in the modern presidency. This is so for reasons brilliantly explored in the year’s most pertinent and sobering public affairs book, “The Cult of the Presidency: America’s Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power,” by Gene Healy of Washington’s libertarian Cato Institute. (emphasis added)

Anyone familiar with George Will knows he isn’t a writer known for overstatement, (save, perhaps, his columns relating to his love of baseball), so such praise is remarkable…and well-deserved.

Radley liked it a lot too.

And if I may throw in my two cents: Gene’s gift for language allows him to go through the history of the presidency without the bloated wonk-speak that often hamper books that come from the think-tanks. It is a very accessible read, well-researched, and has a good amount of the author’s wit and humor to keep it interesting. I highly recommend it.

So, what are you waiting for? BUY IT.

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Filed under: Consumerism Rulez, Profiles in Governance

Heard about this on the way in to work this morning:

ATLANTA — Alcohol was a factor in the death of a 25-year-old man who fell down a stairwell at Turner Field during the game between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets on Wednesday night.

Justin Hayes of Cumming, Ga., suffered head injuries and was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.

The investigation is “pointing toward drinking. Alcohol was a factor,” Atlanta police spokesman Ronald Campbell said Thursday.

Hayes’ parents said Justin Hayes had “a couple of beers.”

“According to his friends, he had a couple of beers like most people at a game,” said John and Cindy Hayes in a statement released Thursday. “They were leaving and having fun, and he did what he does at home — tried to slide down the railing. Unfortunately, he just slipped over.”

I don’t know about “unfortunately.” I think it would probably be more accurate to say “dumbassedly.”

“This was a tragic, horrible accident,” Hayes’ parents said. “Justin was a very strong Christian person, from a strong Christian family, who had never been in any trouble. He really cared about people and went out of his way to help anyone who needed it. We realize most parents will say that about their child, but that was honestly how he was.”

Oh yeah, and a moron.

But as of this afternoon, these were three highlighted comments on the ESPN story:

• Webbz15 (18 hours ago)They need to have guards by the gates so this cant happen.
• ScootD84 (20 hours ago)The big problem is that there are too many places to drink at a ball park. So a person can get shut off at one place and go to another vendor 20 feet away and get served. They should limit the amount of alcohol stands in a ballpark, but no team will go for that, because they will lose money. Its the responsibility of the fan to keep his limit down.
• kurt_slave (21 hours ago)Why cant they have an alcohol limit put on the ticket, and restrict people to a drink or 2.

No. No (except for that last line). and No.

There are 300 million people in this country, and many of them are stupid. Loving, caring, generous, Christian, drunk, stupid people. When they do stupid things, sometimes they die. We can’t just keep restricting freedom to keep idiots from offing themselves, because, damnit, those idiots will just find new and better ways to thin their Darwinian herd.

R.I.P., Dumbass.

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Filed under: Freedom Meets Darwin

Isn’t the fact that she’ll probably end up living at home until she’s 40 punishment enough?

Man Jailed After Daughter Fails To Graduate High School

Brittany Gegner had a history of truancy and eventually it caught the attention of the legal system. When she was 17 - and legally a minor - the case came before a judge and her father was ordered to ensure that she earn her high school equivalency diploma or face the consequences….The imprisoned man’s current wife fears her husband will lose his job because of his incarceration and claims they did everything they could to keep the girl in class. “You’d take her to school and she’d go out the other door,” Stephanie Gegner complains.

A hearing on a motion to reconsider the sentence will be held Friday. Until then, Brian Gegner remains in jail, all because his daughter didn’t graduate high school.

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Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Politics is Personal

How stoned do you have to be to think of this bullshit?

The Kingwood teenager’s story of decapitating a corpse and using the head to smoke marijuana was so outlandish that at first Houston Police Department senior police officer Jim Adkins did not believe it.

Yet, Kevin Wade Jones Jr., 17, appeared almost indifferent as he relayed the bizarre description of his and two friends’ activities at an Humble area graveyard, Adkins said.

…

Jones claimed he and his friends used shovels to dig up the body and removed the corpse’s head with a garden tool, Adkins said. Jones also revealed he and the other two boys took the severed head to the juvenile’s home, where they used the skull as a “bong” to smoke marijuana, the officer said.

I’m guessing it was more of a ‘bowl’ or a ’steamroller,’ but I suppose that’s beside the point.

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Filed under: Pop! Goes the Culture

Seneca found a gem:

“This is a guy who is back in the 1940’s and we need a president for 2010.”

Er, what?

McCain is guilty of many things but a throw-back to FDR he is not…

1 Comment »
Filed under: Mock the Vote

One less moron in the gene pool:

A teenager was killed by a train in O’Fallon, Illinois Sunday afternoon.
…
People at the scene say the teen may have been attempting to race the train by skateboarding across the tracks.

No helmet law could have saved his dumb ass. Sometimes, kids just have to die. It is the way of the world.

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Filed under: Freedom Meets Darwin

From Fark:

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) ― A Long Island music shop owner accused of selling knockoff Gibson Les Paul guitars has been arraigned in a pickup truck in a courthouse parking lot after his lawyer said the 500-pound defendant couldn’t walk into the courthouse.

State Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle said the man’s “severe weight problem” prompted the unusual proceeding Thursday in Riverhead. A defense lawyer also had given the court a doctor’s letter saying the defendant suffers from osteoarthritis.

The question I want answered: Was he was in the cab or the bed of the pickup truck?

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Filed under: Pop! Goes the Culture, Profiles in Governance

I don’t know if some slack-assed intern is to blame or if the producers at FOXNews are really as dumb as they seem to be, but this is just incomprehensibly stupid:

Yes, when Hillary suggested a Lincoln-Douglas style debate with Barack Obama, some bumbling imbecile at FOXNews apparently thought Abraham Lincoln debated Frederick Douglass.

I don’t read Wonkette (nothing against them, I just don’t) , so tip to Yglesias.

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Filed under: Pop! Goes the Culture, Daily Rant