Wil,

That's a terrific story, I'll be sure to share it with my siblings and father (a life long Democrat but certainly conservative in many ways, especially since returned to church with his new wife).

Also, thank you for the AFA link. I wonder how long they will let me stay subscribed to their e-alert mailing list as "hailsatan@[domain masked]". Hee.

Incidentally, it was nice meeting you in person, 12 or so years ago, at a 2600 meeting of all things.

I never imagined I'd live in an America where comedy was perceived on party lines.

That being said, the harsh response to Colbert's burlesque performance on Saturday comes as no surprise: no one thinks its funny when their uglier personas are parroted in front of them in the exact same way they mock their ideological opponents. Think O'Reilly and Limbaugh, and the nasty way they ridicule those on the left.

But Colbert elevated these dirty tactics to high art this last weekend in ways that Al Franken and even Jon Stewart had failed to (or not had the will to) do in the past.

Of course the joke isn't funny when you're the brunt of it. That right leaning blogs are working themselves into a lather to point out how unfunny enough is evidence enough of the piece's sublime effectiveness.

Lynyrd Skynyrd "Simple Man" (our president)

I think every Republican should be strapped to a chair and forced to listen to the Drive-by Truckers' "Southern Rock Opera Acts I and II".

Mr Boyett paints an interesting picture of the state of Christian doomsayers. My question is, what are the prevailing end-times paradigm amoung Muslims and Jews, and are there schools of thought that dovetail into the same types of events or timelines prescribed by apocalyptically inclined Christians?

OS X: applications -> utilities -> terminal

start writing in (pick one: bash, csh, perl)..

man, this issue makes me sick. bourdain is absolutely correct. stop punishing artisinal business for some insane, PETA-commie, animals have more rights than people bullshit cause. its stuff like this that drives people into the welcoming arms of the big-tent, because being a red-stater is better than being a smug, tutle-neck wearing animal rights asshole.

Raise the duck in your apartment - so you can force feed it whenever you want. Then, when its liver is swollen to bursting, you can butcher it in the kitchen sink.

Oh?

You say you want to pay someone ELSE to torture the duck?

Tough shit.

Its called capitalism, you pinko!

The writer mentioned the West Wing, a show that in hindsight pales in comparison to Ronald D. Moore and David Eick's Battlestar Galactica. The reason is that, for all of Aaron Sorkin's contrivances, the morality of Bartlett and his staff and cabinet are rarely in question; when they are, the "right answer" is often telegraphed to the audience so no one goes to bed feeling bad about assasinating the Kumari chief of security, or dishy Sam Seiborn bedding Doctor Cutty playing a high class but sexually liberated call-girl. Only near the end to we see people making decidedly wrong choices, like Toby Zeigler's leaking of information about a top secret military space shuttle program (a bizarre echo of real-world revelations about domestic spying programs, and a much tamer hypothetical than the real misdeeds of our current administration).

In the Battlestar Galatica universe, it is unclear what is or isn't a moral or even reasonable choice, and Ronald D. Moore and company are adept at keeping our heroes (and villains) in perpetual jeopardy, morally and situationally, for their lives and their souls. Saul Tigh, Kara Thrace and Felix Gaeta escape from New Caprica broken, wounded beasts who will not be the same. One of those three, Tigh, may never ever recover. Admiral Bill Adama faces tough choices relating to his former XO in the context of holding the fleet, and humanity itself, together. BSG is rife with these sorts of dilemnas, and it makes it difficult to take a show like "Studio 60 on Sunset Strip" as seriously as I may have had it debuted prior to the arrival of shows like BSG and The Wire (which after last Sunday's episode is back in the lead in a neck-and-neck fight with BSG; besides, I prefer Simon/Burn's stylistic choices to avoid flashbacks, voice overs and unsourced soundtracking).

If you have time, I recommend in addition to watching the DVDs (mini-series, seasons 1 and 2) you also browse on over to Television Without Pity and check out the discussion forums (membership required to post but not to read), as read the recaps.