The Exasperated Sigh

There may be nothing in the world to me more satisfying than hearing Doctor James Dobson sigh. I'm not talking satisfying sighs or deep contentment sighs or heaven forbid, sighs of satiety. I'm talking of that exasperated sigh that is a weird combination of "Tsk" and "Oh". You know it when you hear it.

It made a lovely appearence on the "Focus On The Family" program on Colorado anti-discrimination laws on 5/28/08.

The single syllable that he issues is so, ( he thinks ), damning. It is wonderful containing in its little exhalation 'Oh. What are they thinking? This isn't right. I don't believe it' and 'I don't like this and I am always right'. And 'If you agree with what I am objecting to, there is something clearly wrong with you'. And 'this did not happen in the 50's. Waaah. Waaah. Waaah'

And the program also seemed to explain a lot about Doctor Dobson. It seems he was traumatized as a child by an experience in a girls bathroom.

Hint: He hears girls saying "You're going to be in trouble" in the back of his mind to this day.

Sure explains a lot.

Luckily he gets back at womankind through the patriarchy of "Focus On The Family" and in particular in those programs when he probes women about their husbands' porn problems. The sigh comes out in those shows too.

Dobson bent out of shape again

Well it had to happen. The May 19th 2008 Focus on the Family radio show had to be devoted to the California Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage. And oh boy, Doctor Dobson was having a hissy fit.

The image he gave me of him "pulling the [bed] covers over his ears" to hide from the day's problems is really funny. He said, "That is how I deal with things that distress me."

What is he, eight years old?

So the "show" from "Focus On The Family Action" ( natch ) consisted of the usual miscreants, Dobson, Minnery, Fabry and Tony Perkins from the "Family Research Council" plus a pastor, "Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills California".

It was the usual rubbish and ranting against "judicial tyranny" aka "opinions we don't like". Minnery said he had read the whole opinion - including the dissenting part - and he said "this ruling means people in incestuus relationships can petition to be married".

Well, I guess they could try, but as INCEST IS ILLEGAL, I'm guessing that they wouldn't get what they want. What a maroon Minnery is. As you see, I think little Tommy has isues.

But the old trout was on his best form. Both of the following nonsensical quotes are from Doc's own lips.

"Families are ABSOLUTELY ESSESNTIAL to freedom" What the flying crap does that mean?

"The Family...the ground floor, the foundation everything rests on."

Really? Everything? Idiot.

The Whole Pastoral Mess

I want to write this down somewhere because I think there should be a record someplace that someone felt this way.

Has anyone watched the Reverend Wright footage closely? I mean, real closely, not the "GDA" soundbite so lovingly played ad infinitum by the likes of Sean Hannity.

Prior to the infamous phrase, the Reverend is speaking about bad stuff the United States has done to its own citizens and I think he mentions the treatment of Japanese-Americans in WW2 and the Tuskegee experiments and he says that God does not bless a country that does such things and he says something like "It is in the Bible" and then he says the hated phrase.

How would it have been received if he just had an extra "s" after the word "Damn"?

As in...

God doesn't bless countries that do bad things. Look at what happened to Japanese-Americans in WW2 or to the people in the Tuskegee experiments. I say God does not bless America. It is in the Bible. I say God Damns America, God Damns America. And he does so to all unjust nations.

Would there still be a controversy? All that the Reverend was doing was exposing the nauseating platitude ( so beloved of politicians and their drones ) of "God Bless America" used at the end of every speech by every candidate in every election.

I don't believe in God, but if I did, I would definitely think he would not be in the nation-blessing business. ( except maybe Israel ).

OK I know this sounds like I'm parsing phrases even closer than "It all depends on what your meaning of the word 'is' is", but in the larger context of what the Reverend Wright was saying, I think that extra "s" really makes sense.

First Summer Movie Casualty

Looks like the first Big Summer Movie to crash and burn is going to be "Speed Racer" and for that we can be thankful. My local movie theater was promoting the heck out of this movie all last month on their "Pre-Trailers" show - yes I am taking to you Regal Cinemas - and this movie looked like a steaming pile of doo from the get go.

I really do hate Summer Movies. To date it looks like of the heavily hyped movies, I will see "Prince Caspian" and "Wanted" and the Indiana Jones flick. All the rest can become a huge mass of rotting celluloid in my book.

"Iron Man" taking all that money was a huge disappointment, because all that is doing is encouraging studios to continue in their total bankruptcy of ideas and letting them MAKE MORE COMIC BOOK MOVIES.

Aaaaaarrgghhhhh!!!!!! They are all the same......

A misfit is transformed into a hero.
The female lead screams a lot.
The misfit hero triumphs over whoever the bad guy is.
The misfit hero's identity is somehow revealed, but strangely it isn't.
Some aspect of the movie ( escape of principal villain or promotion of villain's sidekick and/or relative ) points the way to next year's sequel.

Holy crap! This stuff writes itself.


This weekend I will probably go see "Fugitive Pieces" with the lovely Rosamund Pike.