Time for Virginia to Save the Real Hall of Fame

I recently toured the Pantheon, the Parisian tribute to great French leaders (yes, I realize that “great French leaders” is a bit of an oxymoron, but stay with me here I'm making a point). It was, despite my distinctively American bias, extremely impressive.  Entombed there were Frenchmen who made significant contributions to not just their country, but all humanity - Voltaire, Rousseau, the Curies and Victor Hugo, to name a few.

The tour triggered a childhood memory of my reading about an American Hall of Fame in our old World Book encyclopedia, so, when I returned, I looked it up, using 21^st century Google technology this time.  It turns out that the American equivalent to the Pantheon, if you even want to call it an "equivalent," hasn’t been updated since I read about it as a child.  Indeed, it now tragically dishonors the 102 great Americans memorialized there.  And it's time to do something about it.

Know Your Insults

With all the name calling that goes on in the blogosphere, I thought it would be helpful for commenters to have this handy dandy chart to ensure they use the correct term to capture the thought.

From IQcomparisonsite.com:

 

IQ Range	Classification
140 and over	Genius or near genius
120-140	Very superior intelligence
110-120	Superior intelligence
90-110	Normal or average intelligence
80-90	Dullness
70-80	Borderline deficiency
Below 70	Definite feeble-mindedness

 

Mental deficiency used to be more finely classified using the following technical terms that later began to be abused by the rest of society (5):

IQ Range	Classification
70-80	Borderline deficiency
50-69	Moron
20-49	Imbecile
below 20	Idiot

Thus, for an idiot to call someone a moron could be viewed as a compliment. 

And no one wants that to happen.

Embarrassment, Thy Name is Eugene Delgaudio

As much as I bag on other politicos for unbecoming behavior, there is no one, and I mean no one, that even remotely compares to the embarrassment brought upon us all by Eugene Delgaudio.  His latest missive, full of ridiculous distortions and outright lies, proves my point.

Under Public Advocates' letterhead, Delgaudio voices his opposition to a federal bill, HR 998, put forward by Democratic lawmakers to outlaw discrimination against homosexual students.  Below is the relevant text from the bill and then his email

Frankly, even if he shoveled my driveway, cooked my dinner and wiped my kids' butts, no level of constituent service could justify voting for, much less openly supporting, such an individual. 

$3 Raffle Tickets for Dinner With Barry O.

 

From the same folks who brought you Bill Clinton's offer of a night a night in the White House's Lincoln bedroom for a contribution of $100,000 is an opportunity to win dinner with the president himself -- all for a meager donation of $3. The offer is below the fold and full rules here

Funny that Clinton comes to mind here, considering the damage he did to the institution of the presidency.  This latest raffle is every bit as undignified as Clinton's bed-and-breakfast fiasco, and just plain wrong on so many levels.  For one, unlike what he implies in the email below, Obama's offer is not at all about the president breaking bread with the common man.  Hell no.  It's nothing more than a sick fundraising stunt pimping out the presidency.  If he really cared about meeting with the common man, he wouldn't be marketing such a once in lifetime opportunity like it were a game show.

Nothing Says “Christmas” Like a Flying Spaghetti Monster

 

Ahh, yes, the holidays are upon us.  The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, candy canes, department store Santas, and, of course, the perennial spat over displays on the Leesburg courthouse lawn.  

Leesburg Today has a great article on the increasing insanity of it all.  Once upon a time, it was the placement of a nativity scene that drew the ire of some.  The response then was relatively simple: stick a menorah alongside the Christian holiday symbols.  The idea was the allowing a display of another faith would be consistent with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment and everybody would be happy.

Well, that solution, iffy from the start, has now completely failed.  Aside from the atheists’ displays, which one would expect at this time of year, there are now displays obviously mocking the season such as that offered by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (yes, it could be insulting to Christians, but it’s still pretty funny) and others that are simply disgusting such as Santa nailed to a cross. 

I really don’t care what anyone celebrates or how he celebrates it.  However, I will say this: I don’t want one dime of my tax money going to the fight over what crap will litter my courthouse lawn or where it will sit.  As sad as it may be to some, the only reasonable thing to do here is to simply ban all displays.

Let’s just have some peace this season.