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OPENING THIS TIME AROUND (HOWBEIT A LITTLE LATER THAN USUAL FOR REASONS WHICH WILL BE EXPLAINED SHORTLY) is new video from Brave New Films as could best be entitled "Same Tactic, New Target."

As in Fox Prolefeed's use of "swift-boating" the Democratic Presidential candidate to the point of getting voters to vote not so much for their own best interests as for an idealised Greater Collective Good which may only be selling out Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity to the "Evil Empire" of the "New World Order"--all the while excusing such as "perfectly moral:"

Which raises the question of whether the GOP as much as Fox Prolefeed is receiving "consultations" from the so-called "Church of Scientology" on how best to deploy the "Fair Game" weapon of Scientologists and Scientology for corrupt and depraved political purposes, and excuse all as "winning of hearts and minds."

As if that weren't enough, the Media Matters Action Network has this interesting display on how the conservative propaganda masheen is using all manner of interrelated memes against Barack Obama to advance the One Greater Meme of "Obama is Not One of Us" to whip up support for the McCain/Palin ticket "by whatever means necessary," scruples and decency seen as "unnecessary."

(For the sake of the "One of Us" argument as above, Your Correspondent has to ask if the propagators thereof mean White Male Low Church Christians, especially so those of the Primitive Churches such as Independent Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Cumberland Presbyterians, Plymouth Brethren and other Fundamentalist or Primitive Christian churches without synodical affiliation "to maintain the purity and integrity of Our Faith." The kind that would rewrite the chorus to the hymn "Faith of Our Fathers," a staple of Low Church types, to read "Faith of our Fathers, sacred [holy] faith;/We shall [will] be true to Thee 'till death.")

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AND SPEAKING OF JOHN McCAIN'S APPROACH LAST NIGHT (WHICH I HEARD ABOUT SECONDHAND; I DIDN'T LISTEN TO OR WATCH SAME, KNOW) tending to the soft-spoken, it may be worth reminding us all that there are psychological studies as show where a soft, measured tone and approach may belie unwitting psychopathic tendencies on the messenger's part.

Especially coming from someone who used "change" no less than ten times in the acceptance speech, by one count, as if suggesting where his approach amounts to nothing less than a Government-Protected Monopoly on Conservative Thought reinforced by a sadisto "iron heel" mindset.

As if that weren't enough, might I suggest that McCain and Palin be scheduled for appearences on the Faux "reality" series The Moment of Truth, where the targeted are subjected to a standard polygraph test to "winkle out" any fraud, deceit, lies or tricks.

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TIME NOW FOR THE SCOOP FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR DAILY NEWS from Day 4 (Sunday, 24 August):

Congratulations to Tessa in marketing who got engaged after the Paisley concert on Friday!

Who was that gorgeous State Fair employee on 5 News this morning??

Why would anybody drag a cane and pretend its a baton? You should feel sorry for him!!

Quirk/Birk are back on Machinery Hill. Just don't ask any question on John Deer's [sic].

Thanks to the guys and gals who do such a great job of taking care of our every need at the camgrounds [sic]. Mark and Mike are the best!--#247 and #248

Bizzle Dizzle, I heard KTTC needs a reporter. Thoughts?

Monkeys--the flowers regret to inform you we are out of bananas. You may want to try the farmers market.

Nick K. you have the longest ID # of anyone!

Congrats to Betty and Frank Moon in the Ed Building on their 51st anniversary.

CV thanks for saving me from the Mouth Trap!

Rapture you are my one B only HBC+TPB

Mike G., Algene L., Peg J., and Terri B. you guys rock!

Bill--are those complaints gettingto you??

Have you seen the Bazaar? WOW! Welcome back to all of our old neighbors and welcome to the new ones. George, it's going to be tough to enlarge by Hawaiian vocabulary with you so far away. Happy Birthday Nancy!

Yum ... pronto

Thanks to everyone who helped with the motorcycle parade. It went off without a hitch!--KF

BD those arms of yours are crazy

More where these came from tomorrow, folks....

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TELL ME THIS ISN'T AN INDIRECT BYPRODUCT OF THE IRAQI THEATER OF THE UR-RAHOWA AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: UNESCO has announced that the southern Iraqi marshlands along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which have been suggested as being the site of the Biblical-era Garden of Eden, have been designated as a World Heritage Site.

Which is no doubt appealing to the Iraqi Ministry of the Environment, which has done considerably to reverse attempts by the former Ba'athist regime to drain substantial amounts of wetland acreage in question to create new agricultural lands (cf. the Fascist regime under Mussolini draining the Pontine Marshes in the 1920's for these same ends).

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THE RELIGIOPOLITICAL ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS MUST BE PRAYING ALL THE MORE FERVENTLY FOR HURRICANE IKE WREAKING WRATH-OF-G-D-STYLEE DEVASTATION wholesale upon Cuba in the hope of generating enough devastation as would be beyond the efforts of the Communist regime to attempt any manner of reconstruction.

The which would, hopefully, be enough to spark Spontaneous Popular Uprisings against the regime's delays in providing anything remotely resembling relief as the Great Within can exploit for "October Surprise" purposes to sway the vote for the McCain/Palin ticket--as in whipping up a Popular Rebellion (coverage provided exclusively by Fox Prolefeed) that would bring about not so much democracy as a Corporatist-Scientologist regime with "reality show"-stylee coverage serving nothing but "winning of hearts and minds" purposes in expecting the Lower Classes to see free-market capitalism in a "pure" (self-regulated) form as their Great White Father, their Hope and Salvation towards Complete and Final Empowerment after years and even generations of "habitual enslavement bordering on dependency" via State welfare.

(Or so those involved in the farce think.)

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna's rains could be what the Carolinas have been hoping and praying for after nearly two years or so of considerable drought and water-use restrictions. (I should know; I have a brother--retired military, know--living in Fayetteville, NC who has had to cope with the whole while keeping a modest backyard garden.)

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MEMO TO DUCK HUNTERS WHO ARE TRYING TO PURCHASE THEIR DUCK STAMPS FOR THIS YEAR TELEPHONICALLY: The brochure for same quoted the wrong freecall number to that effect by way of typographical erratum.

It's actually 1-800-STAMP-24, not the 1-800-TRAMP-24 you've been quoted: The latter turns out to be a phone-sex service. (This information being presented as a public service, inasmuch as the Fish and Wildlife Service, as is behind the Duck Stamp scheme, has announced that, because of costs, such will not be reprinted with corrected information.)

Please pass this message along to your duck-hunting friends, who will need to buy a Duck Stamp along with their licence.

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NOW, AS PROMISED, I WILL EXPLAIN THE DELAY IN POSTING MY ENTRY FOR TODAY into this blog: Following my morning's work @ the motel here in Winona, Your Correspondent decided to take his bicycle to a bike shop downtown to get some broken or snapped spokes replaced, via a Kwik Trip store to treat myself to a mid-morning snack.

Once the velocipede was left with the repair department, and advice received that the repair would be somewhat delayed, he walked down to the Walgreen's here in Winona (on the east side, know, by the hospital) to stock up on some blue pain-relief gel, some body wash, some cookies and cough drops.

And walked back. And, after leaving his shopping with the bike shop's repair section, took lunch @ a Chinese restaurant in the downtown: Cashew chicken with fried rice, preceded by won ton soup and egg roll with sweet-and-sour sauce, with oolong tea to accompany the whole.

Following lunch, picked up some ink cartridges for the computer printer "just in case."

And spent some time @ the biblio to check on my e-mail.

In the end, three spokes were found to be broken and required replacement, not to mention a fourth as broke when the repair man tried to tighten said spoke. As well, while the opportunity presented itself, a new bicycle seat was purchased and installed.

Now you know. And I apologise for the delay.

(Come to think of it, in case any of you readers are wondering about gift ideas for my birthday on Wednesday, 2 October, I could welcome a heavy-frame bicycle; Mein Innkeeper Friend is of the opine that my girth would require something along those lines for a replacement bike.)     

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YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO WANT TO SHARE THIS PARTICULAR ITEM WITH THOSE AMONG YOUR FRIENDS AND E-MAIL CIRCLES who are still hard-wired in their Zealotry and True Belief in the John McCain/Sarah Palin Presidential ticket, seeing in the same the Complete and Final Triumph of the American Will over the forces of the New World Order's Evil Empire.

Especially considering these rather interesting revelations, originally by way of the forums @ Democrats.com:

As of this writing we have: (thanks to Chip for his valuable input!)

Palin's membership in an apocalyptic, militant, neopentecostal dominionist movement called Joel's Army  (unless she repudiates the group, which is unlikely, this could be an extremely serious liability!)

Palin's membership in a radical right stealth group called "Feminists For Life"

Palin's apparent sympathies for and possible connections to the Alaska Independence Party, a secessionist group

A brewing scandal involving her firing of a police chief

The revelation that Palin's 17-year old unwed daughter is 5-months pregnant (not likely to appeal to evangelicals who prefer abstinence to unprotected teen sex)

Brewing mini-scandals like "Broken Water-gate"

A news interview in which Palin asks, What is it that the VP does anyway?

Troopergate

Reports that she has made many enemies of both parties in the Alaskan state legislature

Reports that she is a poor administrator

The news (from Stephanopoulous) that she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

Her assertion that "the founding fathers" put "Under God" in The Pledge of Allegiance

Her implication that energy independence can be achieved solely through domestic drilling.

Her questionable involvement with a 527 group for Sen Stevens

Palin's earmark requests: more per person than any other state

Clearly, this is not a candidate who was well-vetted, let alone qualified for the job of VP.

If this doesn't reflect on McCain's poor judgment, and his sense of desperation, then I don't know what does.

Come to think of it:

Speaking of Joel's Army and suchlike threats to liberty and democracy based on warped and perverted interpretations of Holy Scripture, some interesting insights about the movement come from the Southern Poverty Law Centre's Intelligence Report, whose fall number features an item on the movement:

Those sounding the alarm about Joel's Army are not secular foes of the Christian Right, few of whom are even aware of the movement or how widespread it's become in the past decade. Instead, Joel's Army critics are mostly conservative Christians, either neo-Pentecostals who left the movement in disgust or evangelical Christians who fear that Joel's Army preachers are stealing their flocks, even sending spies to infiltrate their own congregations and sway their young people to heresy. And they say the movement is becoming frightening.

"The pitch and intensity of the military rhetoric of this branch of the global Dominionist movement has substantially increased since the beginning of 2008," writes The Discernment Research Group, a Christian watchdog group that tracks what they call heresies or cults within Christianity. "One can only wonder how long before this transforms into real warfare with actual warriors."

[***]

[Todd] Bentley is considered a prophet both by his followers and by other leaders of the Joel's Army movement, whose adherents claim to be reviving a "five-fold ministry" of prophets, apostles, elders, pastors and teachers, as outlined in the Book of Ephesians. Not every five-fold ministry is connected to the Joel's Army movement, but the movement has spurred an interest in modern-day apostles and prophets that's troubling to the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal church, which has officially disavowed the Joel's Army movement.

In a 2001 position paper, Assemblies of God leaders wrote that they do not recognize modern-day apostles or prophets and worried that "such leaders prefer more authoritarian structures where their own word or decrees are unchallenged." They are right to worry. Joel's Army followers believe that once democratic institutions are overthrown, their hierarchy of apostles and prophets will rule over the earth, with one church per city.

[***]

The story of how an ancient insect invasion came to be a rallying flag for 21st-century dominonists begins just after World War II in Canada. Out of a small town in Saskatchewan, a Pentecostal preacher named William Branham spearheaded a 1948 revival in which he claimed that his followers lived in a new biblical time of "Latter Rain."

The most sinless and ardent of his flock would be called "Manifest Sons of God." By the next year, the movement was so strong — and seemed so subversive to some — that the Assemblies of God banned it as a heretic cult. But Branham remained a controversial figure with a loyal following; many of his followers believed him to be the end-times prophet Elijah.

Michael Barkun, a leading scholar of radical religion, notes that in 1958, Branham began teaching "Serpent Seed" doctrine, the belief that Satan had sex with Eve, resulting in Cain and his descendants. "Through Cain came all the smart, educated people down to the antediluvian flood — the intellectuals, bible colleges," Branham wrote in the kind of anti-mainstream religion, anti-intellectual spirit that pervades the Joel's Army movement to this day. "They know all their creeds but know nothing about God."

The Gates of Hell
Branham was killed in a car accident in 1965, but his Manifest Sons of God movement, the direct predecessor of Joel's Army, lived on within a cluster of hyper-charismatic churches. In the 1980s, Branham's teachings took on new life at the Kansas City Fellowship (KCF), a group of popular self-styled apostles and prophets who used the Missouri church as a launching pad for national careers promoting outright Joel's Army theology.

Ernie Gruen, a local pastor who initially promoted and gave citywide credibility to KCF pastors in the early 1980s, cut his connections in 1990. Concerned about KCF's plans to push its teachings worldwide, Gruen published a 132-page insider's account, based on taped sermons and conversations and interviews with parents who had enrolled their kids in KCF's Dominion school.

According to Gruen's report, students at the school were taught that they were a "super-race" of the "elected seed" of all the best bloodlines of all generations — foreknown, predestined, and hand-selected from billions of others to be part of the "end-time Omega generation."

Though he'd once promoted these doctrines himself, Gruen became convinced that the movement was turning into an end-times cult, marked by what he summarized as "spiritual threats, fears, and warnings of death," "warning followers to beware of other Christians" and exhibiting "a 'super-race' mentality toward the training of their children."

Those not convinced of the depravities and perversions of Christian doctrine @ the heart of Joel's Army teachings may want to watch this actual YouTube video from a detractor, as appears in the online version of this particular article:

Not to mention the likelihood that the more fanatical specimens of religiopolitical zealotry generally are probably (and @ once unwittingly) close to the Dregs of Society, if not already there, using religion to hide their alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual mania (especially where perverted fetishes, homosexuality, pedophilia and animals come into the equation), propensities for violence against spouse and/or children (and prepared to excuse such as Christian Love Manifest), gaming or other "asocial tendencies."

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AS FOR MS. PALIN'S ABSURD NOTIONS ABOUT HOW THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CAME ABOUT BY WAY OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS, especially so the line "under G-d," it may be worth recalling that it was the 1892 creation of Francis J. Bellamy, editor of The Youth's Companion magazine, as part of a suggested school programme to commemorate Columbus Day; its original form was:

I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the republic for which it stands: One nation, indivisable, with liberty and justice for all.

By 1923, "my flag" was changed to "the flag of the United States of America," with "under G-d" added in 1954 as part of the enforced adventures in jingoistic patriotism brought about by the Red Scare of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy and subsequent exercises in anti-Communist Zealotry and True Belief pro Deo et patria.

No wonder suchlike among her ilk have such warped visions of history as they do.

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ONE THING MORE: People For the American Way (PFAW) would like you to sign this Open Letter to Ms. Palin, to tell her that her real views do not represent those of the American Mainstream, but rather an idealised Bransoner Muzikschaukultur vision therefor.   

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WITH YOUR CORRESPONDENT WRAPPED UP AS HE WAS IN OTHER PRESSING TOPICS OF IMPORTANCE in the previous posting today, he forgot to include the daily dose of The Scoop from the Minnesota State Fair Daily News--today, coming from Day 3 (Saturday, 23 August):

Happy anniversary to Marek and Peggy Kopec of the Flavored Cotton Candy Booth--33 years of marriage and 23 at the fair!

Go ahead, Amy in competition get that foreign language henna tattoo and see what happens ...

Smalls--I'll put five bucks on it that you barely TOWER over five feet, 5' 1 no chance!--TJ

Brigid--Have you checked the gas lately--Anonymous

A great big State Fair thank you to everyone in Creative Activities for the Spam-tastic Buffet! From the Payroll Lady and Spam lover. You guys are the best!

How about posting "Recommended by Fairchild and Fairborne" signage in such venues so preferred?--L.E.R., Winona (Fairchild and Fairborne's fan)

The Education Superintendent is a "happy" man once again now that Patty is leading the daily parade!!

When Lyle Puppe vs. Karen Frost, Karen Frost wins

Steve Roland--you are my hero, a knight in shining armor. Thank you for rescuing me! Signed ... Damsel in a golf cart mess.

BD you get the good person of the day award!

Happy belated birthday Teflon from the silly girls in marketing who forgot to put this in yesterday's news!

BES your rain boots are sharp!

Jack Pixley missed the first day of the fair this year! For 30 years his chimney sweep booth has been in the Home Improvement building and rarely misses a day, especially the opener!

Go Bob Go! You rock!

(Hopefully, such will be back in the regular posting tomorrow. My apologies for having to make The Compleat Scoop a separate posting today because of oversight.)

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DID YOU HEAR WHAT PEGGY NOONAN AND JOHN McCAIN CAMPAIGN AIDE MIKE MURPHY WERE SAYING ABOUT McCAIN'S PRESIDENTIAL PICK SARAH PALIN on NBC the other night, live and on camera?

If not, here's the actual unexpurgated segment, thanks to YouTube (and, ultimately, MoveOn.org):

Not to mention a transcript of the proceedings, With Necessary Omissions:

Mike Murphy, former McCain advisor: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor work. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all like how you want to (inaudible) this race. You know, just run it up. And it's not gonna work.

Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter: It's over.

Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

NBC's Chuck Todd: Don't you think the Palin pick was insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too (inaudible)

Noonan: I saw Kay this morning.

Murphy: They're all bummed out.

Todd: I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political [N4BSK] about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.

Murphy: I totally agree.

Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at and they blow it.

Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.

Todd: And as you called it, gimmicky.

And in light of Ms. Noonan's use of a Bad Word on air in these remarks (and without electronic delay, besides!), how will the so-called "Parents' Television Council" respond to the FCC?

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THIS PARTICULARLY EMBARRASSING GAFFE FOR THE CONSERVATIVE-DOMINATED MAINSTREAM MEDIA brings to mind a discredited Urban Legend involving the well-known childrens' radio host "Uncle Don" in New York (with similar versions involving kiddie show hosts on stations in Philadelphia, Cleveland and San Francisco) who, after signing off on his show one evening, remarked sotto voce (thinking all along that his microphone had been switched off) "Are we off? Good ... I guess that'll hold the little bastards."

Yet, for some reason or another, the remarks were heard live on air, prompting all manner of indignant phone calls and telegrams to the station as led to the show's immediate cancellation and the host in disgrace.

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THE RELIGIOPOLITICAL RIGHT AND ITS DROOGS ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT VERY HAPPY ABOUT A RECENT FLORIDA SUPREME COURT RULING removing two Proposed Constitutional Amendments from the November ballot paper serving their misguided articles of faith and little else.

Let the following press release from the Anti-Defamation League elaborate further:

ADL Hails Court's Striking of Amendments 7 & 9 from Florida Ballot as a Victory for Religious Freedom

Boca Raton, FL, September 3, 2008 …. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today hailed a Florida Supreme Court decision which has "safeguarded the religious freedom of all Floridians."  The Court's ruling struck down two pernicious proposed amendments that would have substantially rewritten the Florida Constitution and its protection of religion. 

 

Andrew Rosenkranz, ADL Florida Regional Director, said:

 

The Florida Supreme Court has acted decisively to stop this onslaught on our religious freedom.  In rebuking the activist Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, the Court acted prudently and has safeguarded the religious freedom of all Floridians.

 

In this case, ADL acted as legal counsel in conjunction with the Florida Education Association and other like-minded organizations.

 

The proposed amendments that were struck down resulted from the 2007-08 term of the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (TBRC).   The order underscores the Court's agreement with ADL's argument that the TBRC exceeded its constitutional authority in seeking to place Amendments 7 and 9 before Florida voters.  The TBRC has the limited authority to place on the ballot constitutional amendments addressing "taxation" and "state budgetary process." A formal opinion will be forthcoming from the Court.

 

Amendment 7 would have eliminated long-established religious freedom protections from the Florida Constitution. It would also have rewritten the Florida Constitution to require Florida taxpayers to support religious organizations, religious discrimination in hiring, and proselytizing.   Amendment 9 would have altered the Florida Constitution to authorize, if not mandate, the State to fund private schools through vouchers or other means.

 

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

Let this be lesson to such seeing "educational reform" as a coded euphemism for "targeted" voucher programmes designed, first and foremost, as a blackmailing weapon against "chronic and habitual welfare cases***lacking Healthy and Proper Moral Compass" who are all the more resigned to free public schools for their primary education.

And, second, to favour so-called "Christian Academies" placing Traditional Values above Core Skills to the point where scholastic performance is likely to suffer, reinforced by mandatory paramilitary instruction and nude swimming which is nothing more than a ruse for aquaphile child pornography whose proceeds go back to the school (and for which all manner of ruses are deployed to avoid suspicions that a "Christian Academy" would engage in such untoward acts, deeds and exploits).

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COULD IT BE THAT THE WHOLE IDEA OF OUTSOURCING JOBS OFFSHORE MAY HAVE BACKFIRED to the point where companies are now having second thoughts about the whole idea in the first place?

Witness what the World Business Review on the BBC World Service earlier today had to say about the subject, noting where the issue had become an Indecision 2008 such in and of itself ... that, and noting where companies are now actually returning these jobs stateside thanks to such factors as:

• Increased fuel and transportation costs;
• Any cost savings presumed to ensue by moving labour-intensive operations to low-wage economies like those of China and India actually being transient and/or illusory over time, thanks largely to currency fluctuations and even political considerations;
• Resentment on the part of "right-thinking Americans" (usually those hard-wired in their acceptance of Fox Prolefeed as their main source of news and information) to offshore call centres and helpdesks staffed by such speaking heavily-accented English; and
• China, curently the major producer of export cheapjack for the "morally superior" American market (especially so Wally World and the various dollar-store chains), already seeing serious problems on its part which could make outsourcing less than viable without warning, among them:
  • threats to its power structure from within, or so anecdotal reports have suggested;
  • potentially serious disruptions to supply chains following large-scale earthquakes or other major natural disasters, especially where factories were constructed with sub-standard materials as could prove fatal in earthquakes such as those which struck Sichwuan province earlier this year; and
  • the likelihood of Beijing diverting essential resources to assisting North Korean refugees as their economy and society deteriorate all the further into chaos and ruin, not to mention uncertainty.

Which makes you wonder whether this news would be of greater benefit to the McCain/Palin ticket, or that of Obama/Biden. Reader, what would you think?

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NOU DIT KAN VERTEL WORD, as they'd say in Bloemfontein:

This past summer, The Big Story in the Waterpark Capital of the World (as in Wisconsin Dells) was the sudden drainage of Lake Delton following flooding in the wake of heavy rains back in June, forcing the Tommy Bartlett Show to remain landlocked for the first time in its 56-year run and resort owners on its shores trying to keep things afloat in the process.

Which got all the attention.

One story which, somehow, didn't get noticed in its wake was where a number of ticket offers for Noah's Ark (America's Largest Waterpark) could be had on eBay from time to time throughout the just-concluded season, notwithstanding where the tickets contained on the back, among other caveats to buyers, "void if resold."

Which was enough to prompt Your Correspondent to send e-mails from time to time throughout alerting America's Largest Waterpark to such acts, deeds and exploits unauthorised, whereby they were able to obtain the serial numbers of the tickets on offer through online auctions (or, in some cases, through the Buy It Now facility) and, in effect, void them so such could not be used for admission into Noah's. (In other words, if someone managed to have one of the tickets as had serial numbers on their "hot list," and tried to use same for admission, such was to be intercepted and the situation explained.)

As season went on, investigations by Noah's Ark and outside auditors discovered where a substantial quantity of admission tickets had been stolen in what amounted to an "inside job," with the stolen tickets "fenced" to a select group of eBay auction sellers for them to resell online under such ruses as "family emergency prevents our using them this season,""vacation plans changed," that sort of thing, to conceal the swindle. And as season's close approached, the ring was busted, with numerous such auctions shut down and charges likely to ensue in the courts.

And all because of some clever vigilance on Your Correspondent's part, never mind where misguided psychiatrists and sheltered-workshop supervisors were forever advising him that such actions as above summarised:

• were nothing more than "narking and invasion of privacy" as was "selfish and unwarranted;"
• "showed reckless and utter disregard for the traditional rights, privileges and powers of others, especially such in positions of authority, power, confidence and trust," said rights being "recognised by unwritten tradition and habit" (as in common law); and
• could be sufficent grounds to prevent my being able to find work, or otherwise revoke eligibility for welfare and Social Security benefits (as if suggesting that continued eligibility therefor requires an ignorant stupidity being exercised constantly for the sake of those in positions of power and authority).

It's my understanding that a Suitable Reward is being prepared by Noah's Ark to acknowledge my honesty and vigilance throughout.

(Similar procedures were applied when it came to offers on eBay involving Riverview Park and Waterworld and the Tommy Bartlett Show, the latter having to give tickets out to companies to give away to employees and loyal customers just to keep the name before the public. And similar actions are expected to be taken, with response likely to be forthcoming as well.)

Now you know.

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FIRST OFF, TELL ME IF THE RATHER ARROGANT-LOOKING GUY IN THIS BILLBOARD FOR A BEIJING HOSPITAL SPECIALIST IN CERTAIN LOATHSOME DISORDERS looks like one Rush Limbaugh in appearence.

In any event, Your Correspondent feels it noteworthy to mention where, for some reason or another, The Exaggerator has seen @ least two hits to this website today from that of the League of the South, a neo-Confederate seccessionist movement; this by way of traffic counts from SiteMeter.com, which this site uses to track weblog traffic.

Which is up there with:

more the engrish!

THE NOTION OF CERTAIN BLOGGERS LIKE YOUR CORRESPONDENT (OR, AS HIS FRAUDULENCY DESCRIBED IT TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION, "THE ANGRY LEFT") being a Clear and Present Danger to Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity as a Nation, methinks, is taking it over the top.

Especially from an element seeing journalism as nothing more than a tool which should serve the State's Greater Collective Good above all else, preferably through a greater emphasis upon propaganda above the facts (recall, for example, Nazi Germany's pornographically lurid weekly tabloid Der Sturmer, whose anti-Semitism was of a crude and spineless, "written-so-you-can-understand-it" stylee).

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AND TALK ABOUT DOUBLETHINK EXTRAORDINAIRE: The Log Cabin Republicans, a group of GLBTQ Republicans, gave their endorsement to the McCain/Palin Presidential ticket, notwithstanding its equating homosexuals as a Retrograde Species of Humanity and homosexuality as a Travesty and Perversion of Nature.

Let's not forget that the Nazis and the apartheid regime in South Africa staunchly opposed homosexuals and homosexuality as violating the Natural Order.

Did you spot the doublethink?

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VICE-PRESIDENT CHENEY IS LABOURING UNDER THE SAME DELUDED BELIEF FOX PROLEFEED HAD RECENTLY THAT IMPORTED OIL AND NATURAL GAS OF AZERBAIJANI ORIGIN (via the Caspian Sea, which is the only ocean lacking a natural outlet) is one with American energy self-sufficency, no doubt explaining the urgency of his talks in Baku with the Azerbaijani leadership on ways to defend its antient and pecuilar soverignty and soverign identity against renewed Russian territorial aggression as was shown most recently in the South Ossetia and Abkhazia districts of Georgia.

Which, as it turns out, have been declared "soverign entities" by Russia in a stylee not unlike apartheid South Africa's infamous "bantustan republics" of Bophutswana, Ciskei, Transkei and Venda--i.e., recognised as soverign only by its slavemasters.

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THE REMNANTS OF HURRICANE GUSTAV ARE PROVIDING THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND THE LOWER BIBLE BELT WITH SOME RATHER UNNECESSARY(?) RAIN, doubtless including Branson and its idealised Muzikschaukultur preferred by the cultural-conservative camp as the One True Acme and Perfection of Amerikanischer Realkultur and its acid test.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Hanna (not to be confused with Hannah Montana or Hanna-Barbera) is over the Bahamas in transit to the Georgia-South Carolina region (preferably the likes of such areas preferred by the Christian Exodus Movement in the latter), Hurricane Ike is over Hispaniola with Cuba in its sights, and Tropical Storm Josephine is not that far behind.

No wonder the Elmer Gantry movement must be anxious all the more about opportunities for seeking Divine Wrath and Judgement, especially upon Cuba; the better to hasten a Spontaneous Popular Uprising against the Communist regime as would bring about not so much democracy (as Fox Prolefeed, already given exclusive coverage rights, wants us all to believe) as a Corporatist/Scientologist regime creating the aura of responsible government based on a "pure" free-market capitalist model.

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JAPANESE MEDIA REPORTS HATH IT THAT THE NORTH KOREANS ARE REASSEMBLING, BY WAY OF BACK-DOOR TACTICS, their atomic reactor among the Azaleas of Yongbyon after agreeing earlier this year with the United States to dissassemble said reactor and renounce its atomic-weapons programmes.

No wonder official North Korean propaganda is forever insisting that The Rest of the World is somehow "backward" and "impoverished" when in fact it's probably nothing but a case of officially-sponsored projection in propaganda form.

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NOW, THE SCOOP FROM DAY 2 OF THE JUST-CONCLUDED MINNESOTA STATE FAIR 2008, from the pages of the Minnesota State Fair Daily News:

Audrey, it's day 2 and ATT loves you!

Teflon: you rock my socks off!

Thank you to Kermit for the goodies from the gals in the payroll dept!

A big State Fair welcome to the Ed Deemer family. Now in its 5th generation of fair goers. Susie, Ed, Wendy, Chris, Angie, Olivia and Adam. Same old camper in the campgrounds. Thanks Bebe!

Make sure you say hi to B. O. B. in finance.

BD: thanks for the Tide stick, such a help!

Karen how many tums have you popped so far?

Can't wait to meet you Florian!

Andy: Let's see who can eat more calories in one day

Keep up the great work Steve

There are some grade-A creepers out there, better watch out!

To the Taste of the Fair Fairchild--you have small hands--BD

BES--Hope the evil trolls are under control--J&B

Sara--those Pickle Pops sure taste like pickles!

Ash--Hope you have a great visit to TGMnGT--L

KF--We don't know about you, but oxen are our favorite animals--your favorite mktg interns

BD--Congrats on the promotion! Sure didn't take much, but I'm proud of you anyways--JR

BES--loving the pumps

TJ--are you sure you're five feet tall? There has been some speculation ...

We love the scoop!--PQ girls

More to come.

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CONCLUDING WITH SOME PURELY PERSONAL PIFFLE: After nearly a year online with cable-based Internet on a leased modem @ 1.5 Mb/second, Your Correspondent has chosen to take on his own cable-Internet modem (a Motorola SURFboard, know) @ double the download speed of previously: 3 Mb/second.

Which, on a monthly basis, after the modem is paid for, will be slightly more than what he paid for (again, monthly) for 1.5 Mb/sec. Internet and the lease on the modem.

Even more interesting is where the local cable Internet supplier with whom Your Correspondent has his Information Stuporbahn connexion supplied some cable for what essentially was a DIY setup on the new modem, what with their installers rather busy having to fill installation requests among the collegiate crowd @ Winona State University, St. Mary's University of Minnesota and Minnesota State College/Southeast Technical to the point of orders being subject otherwise to delays.  

IN CASE YOU ASK ABOUT THE TITLE, SUCH IS INTENDED AS A TRIBUTE TO FILM TRAILER VOICEOVER ANNOUNCER DON LaFONTAINE, whose death @ the age of 68 years has been announced.

Mr. LaFontaine popularised the line "In a world where ..." to the point of its becoming catchphrase, thanks to his frequent use thereof in film trailers which he narrated in his rich baritone.

The Exaggerator extends its sympathies to the LaFontaine family.

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FIRST OFF, YOUR ATTENTION IS CALLED TO THE FOLLOWING VIDEO FROM BRAVE NEW PAC, which features Vietnam War POW Dr. Philip Butler explaining the clear and present dangers inherent in GOP Presidential wannabe John McCain's invoking his POW acts, deeds and exploits for political gain to the point of their being hackneyed and losing effectiveness:

(As a matter of fact, the whole notion of John McCain's invoking his POW adventures and experiences ad nauseum risks becoming all the more hackneyed, thereby creating a vacuum which Democratic Presidential wannabe Barack Obama will want to exploit. Perhaps even more hackneyed than the excesses of jingoist patriotism following 9/11's Unfortunate Events.)

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AND TALK ABOUT TITILLATION FOR THE SAKE OF POLITICS: ABC News revealeth where delegates @ the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities went into full-on debauchka mode notwithstanding appeals by the GOP leadership to hold more somber celebrations in light of Hurricane Gustav's imminent devastation, preferably to include collections for Red Cross disaster relief:

So what gives?

And--to use one of the GOP's preferred catchphrases against Bill Clinton--"where's the outrage?!"

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RETURNING TO JOHN McCAIN FOR THE NONCE, RIGHT WING WATCH REVEALS JUST HOW the GOP Presidential candidate presumptive (to be formally "confirmed" tomorrow night @ Xcel Energy Centre) may have committed a flip-flop to outdo all his well-documented such--as in moving away from taking on the worst excesses of pseudoreligious "ministry" to becoming nothing more than their best and most faithful droog (or so they hope):

Back in 2000, John McCain solidified his "maverick" reputation by lambasting the Religious Right, labeling Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell "agents of intolerance" and decrying the Right's role within the Republican Party:

They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.

Since then, McCain has been working hard to get back in their good graces, though the Right has been openly skeptical and their support for him has been lukewarm at best.  But all of that changed with his decision to name relative-unknown Sarah Palin as his running mate.

I can say without exaggeration that, in all my years of watching the Right, I have never seen them as excited about anything as they are about the Palin nomination.  Nor, for that matter, have I ever seen a prominent politician more blatantly capitulate to their demands:

James Dobson, Focus on the Family:  "A lot of people were praying, and I believe Sarah Palin is God's answer."

James Dobson: "[A]n outstanding choice that should be extremely reassuring to the conservative base of his party."

James Dobson:  I have only endorsed one presidential candidate in my life and that was George Bush in the second term after I had watched him for four years … So I'm very reluctant to do that … But I can tell you that if I had to go into the [voting booth today], I would pull that lever.

Tony Perkins, Family Research Council: "Senator McCain made an outstanding pick."

Connie Mackey, FRCAction:  "I am elated with Senator McCain's choice."

Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel: "Absolutely brilliant choice."

Richard Land: "Governor Palin will delight the Republican base."

Rick Scarborough, Vision America, "I'm elated. I think it's a superb choice."

Ralph Reed: "They're beyond ecstatic. This is a home run."

Gary Bauer, American Values: "[A] grand slam home run."

Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum: "She is the best possible choice."

Janet Folger, Faith2Action: "[T]he selection of Sarah Palin is more than 'Brilliant!' 'Electrifying!' and 'Energizing!' The selection of Sarah Palin will lead to words like: 'Rejuvenating!' 'Victory!' and 'Landslide!'"

Wendy Wright, Concerned Women for America: "Governor Palin will change the dynamics of the entire presidential race."

Janice Shaw Crouse, CWA's Beverly LaHaye Institute: "She is an outstanding woman who will be an excellent role model for the nation's young people."

David Barton, Wallbuilders: "The talk won't be about, 'look at Sarah Palin' as much as 'look at what McCain's choice of Palin says about McCain's core beliefs."

Jonathan Falwell: "John McCain made it very clear that his administration was going to be a pro-life administration, and he proved that's his belief and his passion today with the choice of Sarah Palin."

Jerry Falwell, Jr.: "I think it's a brilliant choice."

Charmaine Yoest, Americans United for Life: "And then when [Palin] was announced — it was like you couldn't breathe. [We] were grabbing each other and jumping up and down."

Gary Marx, Judicial Confirmation Network: "I can tell you that this pick tells millions in the base of the party that they can trust McCain. More specifically that they can trust him with Supreme Court picks and other key appointments'"

David Keene, American Conservative Union: "The selection of Governor Palin is great news for conservatives, for the party and for the country. I predict any conservatives who have been lukewarm thus far in their support of the McCain candidacy will work their hearts out between now and November for the McCain-Palin ticket."

In eight years, John McCain has gone from attacking the Right's "corrupting influences on religion and politics" to answering James Dobson's prayers. Absolutely remarkable.

Perhaps it was time to ask Sen. McCain what explains this flip-flop on support from the Religiopolitical Right--and for Right-Thinking Americans to "swift-boat" McCain with in the now-compressed campaign schedule heading into Election Day.

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AND WITH THE REVELATIONS ABOUT THE 17-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER OF JOHN McCAIN'S VICE-PRESIDENTIAL DROOG, ALASKAN GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN, being great with child, the ConWeb is milking the doublethink angle on this story for great benefit, as per ConWebBlog:

Jacob S. Lybbert writes in a Sept. 1 NewsBusters post:

I think I've got it now. These are the MSM rules when dealing with the personal lives of national candidates and/or members of their family:

Given the chance to publicly embarrass and humiliate a Republican candidate's 17 year old daughter, do it.

If it's a moralizing former Democratic candidate for president, well, leave that to the National Enquirer.

Today, to head off the many tawdry rumors being passed back and forth between the Daily Kos diarists and their plagiarists in the MSM, the McCain camp announced that Governor Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant.

Um, when did the MSM report on any of the Palin pregnancy rumors? (The Times of London, right-leaning and Murdoch-owned, doesn't count.) Indeed, this story didn't make the MSM until the McCain camp made this announcement about the daughter's pregnancy.

Nevertheless, Lybbert goes on:

Unfortunately for the Palin's, they can count on increased scrutiny and criticism of their parenting and their daughter. Stay tuned as the schaedenfreudists of the left laugh about the "irony" of a social conservative with a pregnant daughter. The truth is, these types of things happen to the best of parents--even parents like the Palins.

How does Lybbert know that Sarah Palin and her husband are "the best of parents"? he doesn't say.

Besides, this newfound laid-back treatment of pregnant teenagers conflicts with the MRC's previous attitude on the subject. From MRC chief Brent Bozell's Dec. 28, 2007, column:

The year ended with the news that Britney's 16-year-old sister Jamie Lynn Spears, a star of the children's channel Nickelodeon, was pregnant.

Had the youngest Spears sister been cast as a tawdry teenage tramp on "Desperate Housewives," her real-world behavior would be seen as less scandalous. But Jamie Lynn Spears has been a fairly wholesome star on Nickelodeon since she joined the kiddie sketch-comedy show "All That" at the tender age of 11. She's currently the cool title character of the show "Zoey 101," set at a boarding school, a show watched by millions of grade-schoolers. So much for role models.

At the center of this vortex is the mother, Lynne Spears, who had her publishing contract "delayed indefinitely" for a book on parenting celebrity children, now that it's painfully apparent she doesn't know diddly about parenting celebrity children. The Spears family and their long trail of tabloid embarrassments make them some of 2007's biggest losers.

Got that? Jamie Lynn Spears is a "loser," but Bristol Palin is being unfairly embarrassed in public, even though both engaged in the exact same behavior.

UPDATE: Mark Finkelstein weighs in: "Yes, teenagers have sex, including children of the prominent and pro-life. Does ABC mean to imply that Sarah Palin is [a] poor mother? Bristol Palin ... is keeping the baby and marrying the father. Shouldn't we be celebrating those choices and the mother who instilled the values they reflect?" We wonder: Did Finkelstein celebrate Jamie Lynn Spears' choice?

As if that weren't enough, satirst Betty Bowers weighs in on her weblog, "The No Sin Zone," thus:

Candidate for "Vice" President Sarah Palin has finally fessed up that her unmarried teenage daughter has been running around town having unprotected sex. Truly, the Lord Jesus is showing us two things by this sad example of teenage harlotry:

1.  That a mother who also engages in sexual activity outside of a traditional, Christian marriage (if you doubt this, check out the birthday of Sarah's first son — April 20, 1989 — and the date she and her handsome hubby eloped — August 29, 1988!) sets an appalling example for her own children.  Indeed, studies from Focus on the Family have proven that harlot mothers wind up with harlot daughters 93.4% of the time.  Similar studies by the godly gals at Concerned Women for America have concluded that these poor, impressionable girls learn to strut, show inappropriate décolletage and beguile like pushy prostitutes in their very own living rooms.

2.  And a mother who values her career (to the point of abandoning a newborn to campaign 24-7 for a new job in another state) above raising her precious family should not be surprised when she FINALLY steps back inside her family home (if she remembers the address) to find that it has been filled with bastards in her shocking absence!

And, honestly, what is happening to our once-godly country when REPUBLICANS are getting all giddy over a unrepentant harlot?  I expect Demoncrats to go for that nonsense, but not the party of God.  Please join me in praying to the Lord Jesus that Mr. McCain kick this trash to the curb!

(Could we please have some independent, peer-reviewed substantiation of the studies in question about such women born in Sin all the more likely to live in a state of Sin?)

(Which brings to mind the fact that the Los Angeles Public Library actually banned Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes in 1929 because "Tarzan and Jane were living together in Sin.")