Patton, not Patten. The other typos should be easier to spot.

You see now, Mark Steyn would know these things.

;-)

Is there no way we can simply render their collective amygdalas unresponsive?

Failing that, couldn't they be coerced into taking up base jumping or parkour instead?

Your amygdala continually set on panic should not constitutie a crisis for me.

I have to admit I was pretty amused reading your post today, and by and large felt it was dead on point. But something, or rather someone else began to pop into my mind as I read it was well. In fact I re-read your post just to make sure.

The warriors you depict sound eerily familiar to the anti-homosexual warriors known as the Phelps family. I live in Lawrence, and unfortunately the Phelps are in Topeka about 20 minutes away. I've gotten to know them over the years, and there's a couple of them that I've personally gotten to know which I won't discuss much further as to how. And while those few that I've known on a personal level have an everyday "normal", even professional and affable side to them, the collective group mentality with their unbelievable protests, unquestionable hatred, and vitriolic spewing towards homosexuals (and this country) is well-known. They defy complete logic and understanding of anything outside of their twisted version of Christianity as their outlandish actions and words demonstrate how narrow-minded and horribly confused they truly are in this world.

There's just an ode of similarity to me when reading what you describe about our neocon warriors.

To beard... check this out:

http://www.bartleby.com/81/1533.html

Another meaning could be in an Auto-da-fe... once the victim was hoisted above the fire to roast... a long pole with a flame at the end would be thrust into the face burning off the beard. Perhaps this was the practice to control wild animals like bears and lions by thrusting fire into the face.

CIA... taking notes? Could be a nice conterpart to the waterboarding.

Der Untertan is the most famous novel by German author Heinrich Mann. It has been translated into English under the titles "Man of Straw," "The Patrioteer," and "The Loyal Subject" (translation by Helmut Peitsch). The title poses a problem for the non-German reader since there is no effective translation of the word 'Untertan' in the sense it was employed by Mann. The 'Subject' of the title conveys a sense of unthinking servility to the state.

Although the novel was completed in July 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I, it was not published until 1918 (by Kurt Wolff Verlag of Leipzig). After the war, the novel enjoyed considerable popularity, given its critiques of the ultra-nationalism of Wilhelmine Germany.

"Der Untertan" portrays the life of Diederich Hessling, a slavish and fanatical admirer of Kaiser Wilhelm II, as an archetype of nationalist Wilhelmine Germany. Hessling is unthinkingly obedient to authority and maintains a rigid dedication to the nationalist goals of the German state.

Throughout the novel, Hessling's inflexible ideals are often contradicted by his actions: he preaches bravery but is a coward; he is the strongest proponent of the military but seeks to be excused from his obligatory military service; his greatest political opponents are the revolutionary Social Democrats, yet he uses his influence to help send his hometown's SPD candidate to the Reichstag to defeat his Liberal competitors in business; he starts vicious rumors against the latter and then dissociates himself from them; he preaches and enforces Christian virtues upon others but lies, cheats, and regularly commits infidelity.

Diederich's ideals: blood and iron, and the might of opulent power, are exposed as hollowness and weakness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Untertan

"Steyn deeply flatters himself into believing that only he and his tragically small (and shrinking) band of warrior-comrades can bear the "psychologically exhausting" burden of defending The West and its freedoms."

One wonders how many freedoms Steyn's cohort will happily give away in the name of fighting for same.

I have long wondered at the fear that a small random group of bad actors were supposed to inspire in the mightiest military power ever.

How did this happen, if not by manipulation and chicanery?

I can't believe that we were thrown into a state of panic that is supposed to have lasted 7 years and counting by a group of 20 hijackers. We have 1.4 million women and men in our military.

We have a 600 Billion dollar annual military budget. We have the greatest arsenal fighter planes, war ships, and submarines the world has ever known. We have sufficient nuclear weapons to render the earth itself uninhabitable.

The fear of the bogey man should not be sufficient to cause us to sell out to the biggest FEARLEADER!

Why should we not rise up en mass when one of our leader's handpicked aides talks of the legality of crushing a child's testicles to get a terrorist to talk?

How did we sink so low as a nation that we should allow our government to tell us to report our friends and neighbors to the authorities if we suspect their motives?

Why is it us lily-livered liberals who are the only ones who seem to have the conjones (as of yet uncrushed) to speak out against the immunizing of the telecom companies? Against the threats to freedom of speech and assembly? How can we not see that we are being manipulated by the kleptocracy that rules this country?

I have to go and lie down now.

Pax

Der Untertan is the most famous novel by German author Heinrich Mann. It has been translated into English under the titles "Man of Straw," "The Patrioteer," and "The Loyal Subject" (translation by Helmut Peitsch). The title poses a problem for the non-German reader since there is no effective translation of the word 'Untertan' in the sense it was employed by Mann. The 'Subject' of the title conveys a sense of unthinking servility to the state.

Well, thank goodness language evolves. The next translation of the book will be titled "The Neocon."

But I jest.

Kinda.

OK...not really.