The Sixth Greatest Canadian Song

Canadian born actors Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas created the characters Bob and Doug McKenzie for the Candaian-syndicated comedy show SCTV. The McKenzies were a couple of stereotypical Canadian goofs (I have it on good authority that Candians don't act this way regularly) who called each other “hosers”, swilled beer and created this tortured version of the 12 Days of Christmas. Here is an animated version. Thanks to the vodka-swilling James Wigderson for this suggestion.

The Seventh Greatest Canadian Song

Here's The Hockey Song (along with Sudbury Saturday Night) by Stompin Tom Connors at the behest of Canadian expatriate, illusory Tenant. A fine number seven entry in our very illogical ranking of all-time best Canadian songs.

Besides, I'm easy to convince. Witness number six coming soon.

The Eighth Greatest Canadian Song

Let me clarify. This list is being done for fun. These songs really are not being ranked; it's just a countdown of sorts to occupy a lazy Sunday afternoon. Number eight is These Eyes by the Guess Who.

The Ninth Greatest Canadian Song

Illusory Tenant wondered whether a list was forthcoming of Canadian all-time favorite songs. I had not intended that with this post, but in the spirit of giving here is Number Nine, Helpless by Neil Young. Suggestions are welcome.

The Tenth Greatest Canadian Song

Canadian poet Leonard Cohen's "Halleluja" as sung by Canadian songbird, k.d. lang. Have a very Merry Canadian Christmas.

Woe is Us

If only we had listened to Fred, Mary, Owen, Peter, James, Patrick, daddio and the rest ... woe is us.

Thx, Tom Tomorrow.

Paul Weyrich

Paul Weyrich, whom some considered the father of the religious right and one of the founders of modern conservatism, died this morning at the age of 66.

In my mind, Weyrich is notable for a number of ideas he advanced using the Republican party as the vehicle. One was the the conservative effort at voter suppression. He said as much in 1980.

Now many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome -- good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.

Sound familiar? It's just one example of his anti-democratic zeal.

Weyrich was also was a homophobe as this snippet of a conversation he had with Michelle Norris of NPR in 2006 illustrates.

Weyrich: It has been known for many years that Congressman Foley was a homosexual. Homosexuals tend to be preoccupied with sex - the idea that he should be continued, or should have been continued as chairman on the Committee for Missing and Exploited Children, given their knowledge of that is just outrageous.

Norris: Now, before we go on, I think I can say, Mr. Weyrich, that there quite a few people who would take exception to the statement that homosexuals are preoccupied with sex.

Weyrich: Well, I don't care whether they take exception to it - it happens to be true.

Norris: That is your opinion.

Weyrich: Well, it's not my opinion, it's the opinion of many psychologists and psychiatrists who have to deal with them.

I'll bet they all have degrees from Liberty University.

And finally, he was a member of the Arlington Group. Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League said this about their agenda.

If their agenda was hidden 15 years ago, today it is in full public view. Just take a look at their Web sites, where they document in considerable detail an agenda on a wide range of issues: judicial nominations, same-sex marriage, and faith-based issues – and an agenda that, let us be clear, goes well beyond legitimate engagement in controversial social and political issues to a fundamental usurpation of all that America represents.

Among the group's members are these extremeists.

The Alliance Defense Fund - Alan Sears
Most importantly, the court victories are vital steps to keep doors open for the spread of the gospel and reclaim the legal system for Jesus Christ.

The American Family Association - Donald Wildmon
The American Famaily Association, “believes that God has communicated absolute truth to man through the Bible, and that all men everywhere at all times are subject to the authority of God’s word. Therefore, culture based on biblical truth best serves the well-being of our country."

Family Research Council - Tony Perkins
Christians can be loyal to liberal democracy as long as rights are carefully controlled by a dominant culture that directs them to the true hierarchy of ends.

Focus on the Family - James Dobson
The enemies of morality will not stop and will not back off. The Left cannot and will not change… no matter how many God-fearing and God-honoring women and men are elected and appointed to public office, until the hearts of the people change, we will not turn around this culture and restore our Biblical foundations.

The movement that Weyrich helped come to fruition is suffering through some hard times these days, but its message of intolerance for others continues on.

Still, condolences to his family.

The Chief has a look at Paul Weyrich, too.

So What!

Erica Heller's comments regarding George Bush were sent to me by that worthy mom-of-mine and they are reproduced below.

Into yesterday's daily meat grinder of news went a little bit of everything, the Madoff debacle, the shoes tossed at Bush, Caroline Kennedy's political aspirations, the already by now daily dump on Obama & Co., the Iago Blago, and what a recipe it was. But hello? Seemingly lost in the proverbial shuffle, but for Keith and Rachel, the two worthiest guardians at the gates of our collective conscience, and what knocked the very wind out of me, were just two little words petulantly uttered by Bush to the ever-formidable Martha Raddatz in this lame duck's lamest, latest cheesy attempt at anthropomorphism: "So what?' said the man in charge of the free world, when asked about whether or not Al-Qaeda was in Iraq before we were. So what? Huh? Were chillier, crueler, more cavalier words ever spoken? Somehow, this seems to be lost in the news today but my brain refuses to flush it. Perhaps because my blood is still boiling.

It seems to me that with those two extraordinary, positively barbaric words, we finally got to see the true Bush, without artifice, without the smug, sneering frozen mask of pre-prepared, freeze-dried answers to questions, which he always seemed so infuriated at having to answer.

Indeed, he is the very epitome of a So What President. So what if the Katrina victims rot? So what if the world hates us? So what if our actions resonate everywhere with dire, catastrophic consequences? So what if people are starving and have no health care in one of the richest nations in the world. And so what if we leaped into an unnecessary war with manipulated "evidence", in which thousands have perished, utterly pointlessly? After all, we are not permitted to see the caskets anyway, right? And so what if the veterans come home to outrageously disgraceful medical care as well as, at best, precarious financial circumstances? There is no end to the list and no end to the "So whats", because this is a person who checked out years ago, if indeed he ever checked in. The difference now is that with only 35 interminably long days left to this hideous sham, he no longer has to even attempt to try to seem concerned, involved, present.

And I am left to wonder for all 35 of them, and surely way, way beyond, how this imposter can possibly be headed off, untroubled, unfettered, into the sunset, bound for a cushy life in Dallas, instead of a brutal trial in The Hague. I mean, is anyone accountable here? Responsible? Officially culpable?

Or will history's inevitable response to all this be just more of the same?

Will it also whisper: "So what"?

Isn't it the truth?

And his legions of admirers and enablers are just as hideously guilty. They checked out of the human race 14 years ago when Gingrich and pals, playing upon fears and anger, first rode to power. Since then they've plundered the economy, created more fear and anger based on ignorance, unleashed an unnecessary war, and set back foreign relations 60 years.

A generation from now I hope we will be able to look back and be thankful that most of the damage has been undone. I hope I'll be able to say when I hear a conservative lament that the Bush years are unfairly treated by historians – So what!

Shoe Thrower to be Given Tryout by Brewers

Rumor has it that the Milwaukee Brewers are considering giving the Iraqi journalist who threw two shoes at President Bush a tryout for the 2009 season. Even though Muntader al-Zaidi missed the President, the hope is that he will find it easier to throw a basbeall accurately. With CC Sabathia already signed by the Yankees, and Ben Sheets not likely to return to the Brewers' rotation, there is a need for mining new talent, so to speak.

The source also noted that Iraq is a largely untapped region for baseball talent and perhaps some of the bomb throwers living there might be convinced to try a less lethal sport.

Impervious to Reason

This comment (edited a bit) I think sums up conservatives beautifully: "They are impervious to reason, but thin-skinned when it comes to criticism."

As the commenter went on to say, this is why we must make fun of them. It is our patriotic duty.

h/t Sadly No commenter