Hornswaggler | The culture, the humor, a bit of the sports, not so much the politics, and the workplace distraction
Hornswaggle is an alternate spelling of
hornswoggle, an archaic word that means to bamboozle or hoodwink. I take my
pronunciation from the late Harvey Korman in "Blazing Saddles" --
"I want rustlers, cutthroats, murderers,
bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits,
vipers, snipers, conmen, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers,
buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswagglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train
robbers, bank robbers, ass kickers, shit kickers and Methodists!"
Checked out Tom Tomorrow's page and learned he has been honored by conservative pundit Ann Coulter, who has branded him, in Tomorrow's words, unAmerican. I've seen Coulter on television and I'm aware of her new book ("Slander: Liberal Lies about the American Right") -- I've even read part of it -- and I've perused the article in which she referenced "This Modern World" and I can safely say that she is a fucking idiot. She's pretty easy to size up in terms of her depth and what she's engaging in, which is Rush Limbaugh-style demagoguery. The reason she's emerging as a "star" is that she's a borderline good-looking blonde woman who fills the Attractive Female Void in the Republican Party created by such doddering, lacquered dragon ladies as Katherine Harris, who we all remember for the role she played in the Florida election debacle.
One of Coulter's persistent themes is that liberals refuse to debate conservatives on the issues and instead engage in personal attacks. As far as refusals to engage in intelligent debate are concerned, precisely the opposite is true. Did George W. Bush ever define what the hell a compassionate conservative is? No. He provided a sound bite. Sound bites are the only things he's good at -- "I'm a uniter, not a divider." Al Franken sent Limbaugh into a multi-year retreat with his book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot and Other Observations," forcing the ignorant blowhard to drop about 100 pounds, retool his image and doctor his self-esteem. Let's hope someone steps up to put Coulter to rout in similar fashion. I was about to say in "less malicious" fashion, but brute force is the only thing some of these Republicans understand. Finally a liberal, in this case Franken, hit back and the cur whimpered and shrank into the shadows. And just as Franken won the day by not pulling his punches, Clinton succeeded politically and incurred the wrath and undying hatred of Republicans everywhere by out-sleazing them, by beating them at their own game. Liberals are bullied far too often and that has got to stop. There's just too much at stake, like the planet.
In other news, what a gorgeous weekend, capped by a memorable trip to the rope swing at Bass Lake in Point Reyes and the best oysters I have ever eaten, BBQ'd on the grill outside the Coastal Cafe in Bolinas.
