If you’re a “progressive,” you probably won’t agree with its premise, which is basically that there are two populations going in opposite directions: one is shrinking and getting older (post-Christian, postmodern Western civilization) while the other is growing and decidedly younger (Islam).

What happens when the first is coddled by the state from cradle to grave and believes in nothing while the other is animated by a violent ideology that takes no prisoners? Then add the fact that the former are elderly and addled by pop culture and politcally-correct multiculturalism while the latter are youthful and angry? The end of the world as we know it, at least according to Steyn.

The edition delivered to my front door includes a new introduction. While almost every sentence in the book is quotable, here’s a tasty one I found in the intro:

“Why do radical imams seek to convert young Canadian, British and even American men and women in their late teens and twenties? Because they understand that when you raise a generation in the great wobbling blancmange of cultural relativism, a certain percentage of its youth will have a great gaping hole where their sense of identity should be. And into that hole you can pour something primal and raging. Islam is an ideology. To claim it’s “race” is so breathtakingly stupid as to give the game away – and to confirm that “Racist!” is now no more than the cry of a western liberal who can’t stand his illusions being disturbed.”

Dueling bumper stickers: I was driving to Target the other day to partake in some rampant consumerism. Before I did my little part in destroying the planet, I noticed a car with two bumper stickers. One read, “Obama ’08,” the other, “I love my country but fear my government.” This puzzled me, because if one fears their government, is it prudent vote for the candidate who promises more of it? The problem with voting for more government is that, eventually, some right-wing fascist will be in power and abuse the hell out of the behemoth you helped create in the first place by voting for big-government guy (or gal). George W. Bush, for instance, would have been less likely to constantly violate our rights had the federal government been limited to begin with. It’s not a good idea to create an infrastructure that allows the next Hitler unfettered access to almost unlimited power.

“The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.”

John Adams

Ever since people started reporting on and analyzing the news on the Internet and other new media outside the traditional media outlets, the traditional media has been going through its own version of the Kubler-Ross Five Stages of Grief…

Denial… “This can’t be happening.”

Anger… “Who the hell do these pajama-clad people think they are?”

Bargaining… “Okay. We hate you, so we’ll start doing the same thing.”

Depression… “Our business model sucks and we’re going out of business.”

Acceptance… “Everything will be okay since I can get a federal bailout and have the feds regulate and harass my competition out of business, all in the name of some nebulous public good!”

Fake but accurate: When traditional "journalists" are sure something's true but have no evidence, it's time to go to Kinko's! Image from michellemalkin.com.

Whenever a high-profile blogger gets it wrong, jumps the gun or takes something out of context, the traditional media launches into “I-told-you-so” mode, most recently and notably with the Breitbart/Shirley Sherrod fiasco. However, when one of their own does it, there’s nothing to see (Rathergate).

The traditional media would like nothing better than to consolidate their power in such a way that everyone but the traditional media is held accountable for their actions. I think they call it “accountability journalism,” or what I like to call “baby talk.”

This begs the question: who fact-checks the fact-checkers? Who holds those who wield the sword of accountability accountable? What the traditional media desire is a monopoly on accountability, which is convenient for a demonstrably biased group advancing specific political and ideological agendas. As “gatekeepers” they will ensure the unwashed masses stay outside the gates. Safely inside the gates, the gatekeepers can do whatever the hell they want. Who needs transparency when the gatekeepers are so ethically and morally pure?

Was Breitbart held accountable for posting an out-of-context video? Certainly. Now that the entire video is out and people can see it for themselves they can make their own judgment about it without a monopolistic “accountability” filter designed to tell them what to think.

Fake but accurate: Filmed from multiple angles with hundreds of cell phone cameras recording at the same moment, not one person has come forth with evidence that Tea Partiers screamed racial epithets at black Congressmen who purposely walked the gauntlet to incite the racism that supposedly infuses the Tea Party movement. The accusation may be fake, but the traditional media decided it was accurate so there was no need to verify the veracity of the claims. Now that's accountability journalism!

By the same token, when the media reported with absolute certainty that the N-word was hurled more than a dozen times at black legislators purposely running the Tea Party gauntlet on Capitol Hill, the blogosphere cast serious doubt on this assertion. The traditional media’s reaction? Ignore the evidence and mindlessly repeat a lie since it fits their worldview and narrative.

The traditional media believes the Tea Party is racist, primarily because the Tea Party opposes the first black president’s agenda. In the traditional media narrative, opposition to Obama equals racism. So if A=B is true, then naturally the stuff we make up, C, is true, even if it really didn’t happen.

Rathergate was based on the same thinking. Dan Rather and his colleagues at CBS believed that George W. Bush was a nincompoop and a shirker so they didn’t waste any time double-checking the documents sent to them by a dubious source that helped prove the point. When the documents were shown to be obvious forgeries, Rather and the traditional media circled the wagons. Their final defense? Fake but accurate! I don’t know about you, but I prefer news that’s genuine and accurate.

So, while the traditional media whines and moans about the lack of accountability in the blogosphere, talk radio and Fox News, we’re actually living in a time of hyper-accountability. You can’t publish, post or air anything without someone somewhere holding you to account.

There are obvious drawbacks to this Wild West information age, such as the ease of defamation, but that’s a trade-off I’m willing to make. Information is power, and once concentrated in too few hands it is dangerous.

Plagiarism Pays? Apparently it did for Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, to the tune of $300,000. That’s $300,000, as in a 3 with five zeroes behind it. I need to renegotiate my contract with The Daily Plunge! McInnis “wrote” a series of essays about water rights that turned out to be written mostly by Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs years earlier. McInnis blames it on a research assistant; the research assistant blames McInnis, and so it goes. McInnis claims that when you’re a busy politician stuff falls through the cracks. Be that as it may, my vote in the Republican primary is going to Dan Maes. I’m exhausted by career politicians whose first priority is Me, followed by I.

Handicapping Colorado: Tom Tancredo, former U.S. Congressman best known either fairly or unfairly as a one-issue politician (immigration), is threatening to join the fray as the third candidate to vie in the Republican gubernatorial primary on Aug. 10. It’s probably not going to happen and it will still be the seasoned politician with a peppery past of questionable ethics, McInnis, against Maes, who has little to no name recognition. McInnis will win the primary because people can’t help themselves when they look at a ballot and see a name they’re familiar with. Why bother researching the candidates before you vote? That wouldn’t be the democratic way. The McInnis scandal virtually assures that the Democratic nominee, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, will be Colorado’s next governor. Though Hickenlooper is sure to saddle Coloradoans with higher taxes and more intrusive regulations he can’t be all bad. He was one of the founders of the Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver’s LoDo district. The beer is fantastic, but I always keep a close eye on my wallet when I’m there.

Lohan Watch: Oops! I meant Lauper Watch… You may remember Cyndi Lauper from such one-hit wonders of the 1980s as Girls Just Want to Have Fun and True Colors. Okay, so that makes her a two-hit wonder and, apparently, an expert on foreign and domestic policy. Here’s a sampling of Ms. Lauper elevating the discussion in America. Ignorance and Intolerance Warning: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2010/07/23/cyndi-lauper-bush-a-criminal-evangelism-bullsht-nsfw/

“Please! Remain in your seats, I beg you! We are not children here, we are scientists! I assure you there is nothing to fear!”

-Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein

Back in April 2002, David Levy proclaimed that the Unted States was in “the Frankenstein recovery.” If 2002 was the Frankenstein Recovery, then this is the Young Frankenstein Recovery. It’s so bad that it’s a parody of a stitched-together, made-up recovery. Charged with finding what we need to reanimate our economy, the geniuses on Capitol Hill, a.k.a., Igor, bring us the Abby Normal brain of “stimulus” spending. Unfortunately, after inserting the abnormal brain and pumping megagigawatts of electricity into his creature, Dr. Frankenstein didn’t have a plan after it came to life.

Likewise, our own Dr. Frankenstein, Obama, and his foolish sidekick, Igor, have created a monstrosity that threatens to force a double-dip recession. Sure, I suppose there’s a smattering of “shovel-ready” jobs, but that doesn’t exactly save the economy. To see another version of how Obama and Congress explained all the pointless spending to the American taxpayer, please check out the video clip below (the part of Obama/Congress is played by Marty Feldman; the part of the American taxpayer by Gene Wilder):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ_pKqiB5Rg

Liberals continue to believe the Great Depression myth that Franklin D. Roosevelt’s massive growth of the federal government somehow saved the economy and will always save it. All it really did was create a 7-foot-tall, 54-inch-wide gorilla that lumbered around terrorizing the villagers for an entire freaking decade. Now the monster’s twice as large and the angry racists villagers are fresh out of torches and pitchforks. Oh well. At least it can sing Puttin’ on the Ritz…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ-aRwEbp5I

What is soccer, really, but Barbie foosball on grass?

The nation is inexplicably caught up in both World Cup and Boycott Arizona fever. Even citizens in our extreme northern regions, who are normally high on hockey, are packing bars and making official statements about Arizona’s immigration law. They may not know exactly where Arizona is or what a yellow card represents, they just know it’s cool to watch the World Cup and call Arizona a racist, fascist state.

Just today I picked up a six-pack of delicious Sunshine Wheat beer and the proprietor asked me if my purchase was made in preparation for today’s World Cup games. I mumbled something about foosball and got the hell out of there. Sometimes I feel like Will Smith in I Am Legend.

This is simply another sign of the coming Apocalypse, but it also shows how the nation’s education system has betrayed entire generations. Busily teaching multi-cultural sensitivity and relativism, rather than logic and the three Rs, our schools are churning out hyper-ecumenical adults who don’t even know what ecumenical means, much less that soccer sucks or how to read words printed on a piece of legislation.

There really are true soccer fans in the U.S., but most are of the faux-fan persuasion. With all due respect, the true fans are certainly misguided, but it must be frustrating to have been infected with this disorder for years and years only to find their abnormal world suddenly populated with legions of USA/gooooooaaaaal-chanting know-nothings.

With all due respect, I don’t think it’s in our nation’s best interests for President Obama to be Buddy Hinton to our Cindy Brady. “Baby talk, baby talk!” Enough already!

When Mr. Obama first took office I was certainly skeptical, but I was also willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. By and large, I knew his policies would not be all that popular with me during the course of his term in office. I also knew that if he was true to his rhetoric during the campaign – the post-partisan reform he promised – I might even be somewhat pleased with his presidency.

Now, however, when Mr. Obama says, “Let me be clear,” I know I’m about to hear the least transparent version of the issue possible. I’m exhausted by the continuous campaigning. It never stops. Mr. Obama presents a stark contrast to all of his predecessors in this office who at least pretended to represent all Americans.

When there’s a massive oil spill in the Gulf, for instance, Americans scream for leadership. Blame, ass kicking and the usual partisan politics can come later. Unfortunately, all of the post-crisis hand-wringing is taking precedence over what’s really needed now. The whole thing’s backwards.

In Obama’s case, all that’s needed is at least the illusion of leadership. Better yet, how about real leadership? Why the hell would he waste time kicking people’s asses? Who is he anyway? Buddy Hinton?

His term in office has been surreal. When you call the Supreme Court on the carpet during the State of the Union address, ensuring that the Justices have to sit and take their lumps on national television while a bunch of ass clowns leap to their feet to shove it in the Justices’ faces, it shows a childish lack of integrity. That’s not leadership; that’s mean-spirited Chicago playground politics (“Baby talk, baby talk!”).

That’s what really sends me through the roof with this guy. Despite all the evidence from Mr. Obama’s past – his voting record, his associations, the dozens of books he’s written about himself – I thought that maybe, just maybe, he would elevate the presidency, that it would be truly post-partisan and a new era of good feeling would permeate Washington. Boy was I ever wrong.

Let me be clear. This is not about hating a black man, racism “straight up,” or whatever it is our 21st Century John Lockes believe any opposition to Mr. Obama’s policies reveal about those who don’t agree with his policies. With all due respect, if you believe that opposition equals racism I’d like to make sure you’re at the top of Mr. Obama’s ass-kicking list.

Humanitarian peace activists welcome Israeli commandoes to their peace-loving party.

In case you’re not aware, “human” “rights” “activists” have been purposely trying to run Israel’s blockade of Gaza for propaganda… er… humanitarian purposes. Israeli commandos attempting to board one of the floating love barges were met with violent resistance and nine of the peaceful iron bar-wielding humanitarians were killed.

On board one of the other boats running the blockade was a former U.S. diplomat who worked in the Carter and Reagan administrations, where he apparently did nothing of consequence except take up space. Edward L. Peck was involved in the flotilla as a representative of the Free Palestine Movement, which is dedicated to bringing “justice” to Palestine.

Progressives have a funny notion of “justice,” which in this case is to support homicidal fanatics in the destruction of Israel. In their defense, they have been taught that Western civilization is evil, imperialistic and intolerant, so in the name of tolerance anyone who opposes the U.S. or Israel must be supported in their “struggle”.

People like Peck and the late Rachel Corrie are continuing the left’s time-honored tradition of being useful idiots for murderous thugs. From Stalin to Hamas – with a sprinkling of Castro, Ho Chi Mihn and the Sandinistas in between – the left has consistently collaborated with tyrants and terrorists against America and Israel.

While the Hamas charter openly calls for the destruction of Israel, these leftist pawns continue to do the bidding of Hamas in an ongoing battle meant to make Israel as defenseless as possible against a jihadist onslaught. It’s strange to me that these supposedly enlightened people either can’t or won’t see the backwards and barbaric culture with which they’re collaborating for what it really is.

If these “humanitarians” were so concerned about getting food and medicine to Gaza, why not peacefully submit to inspections? Because that’s not the point; the point is to stick it to the Jews and end the blockade through international pressure so that arms can be shipped freely into Gaza and turned against the “oppressor” state, Israel.

I suppose that’s what passes for “peace” and “justice” in the left’s relativistic, topsy-turvy world of rainbows and unicorns. Imagine all the people, destroying Israel. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one!

Update: All we are saying… is give genocide a chance!

Dude! It's another sign of the Apocalypse!

Around the corner from my home in Denver sits a fairly lonely mini strip center. About a month or so ago it consisted of a pizza parlor and a liquor store with a vacancy in between. Then, some genius drove by and had a brainstorm. “Dude, what’s the perfect business to complement the pizza and liquor purveyors who comprise this mercantile center?” Thus CannaMart was born, or at least that’s the way I like to imagine it was born.

If you haven’t guessed what CannaMart sells, it goes by many names: Mary Jane, ganja, reefer, weed, dope, smoke, grass, wacky tobacky, diggity dank, marijuana and, of course, cannabis. I learned of its existence via the mouths of babes, namely my children, who noticed the new sign heralding this weed-dispensing establishment. That should have been my first warning that maybe medical marijuana isn’t the best thing for my community, but of course my interest was piqued.

Colorado voters legalized marijuana for medical use in 2000. At that time, the dispensation of said weed was quite restrictive. In 2007 a court lifted the five-patient limit and the next thing you know they were popping up all over Denver and other points and places around Colorado to the point that one of Denver’s main streets, Broadway, is now known as Broadsterdam.

Though I’d known of its existence – that is, legal medical marijuana – I was somewhat confused. Why isn’t it dispensed in pill form at a pharmacy? After all, it’s not the weed itself that provides the so-called medicinal effect, but THC and Cannbidiol (CBD), the active ingredients.

I had lots of other questions as well. The whole thing just seemed, well… off, for lack of a better term. So I figured the only way to get a handle on medical marijuana was to visit my local CannaMart.

The first thing I noticed was that all the windows are darkened, covered by black foam so that you can’t see inside. The barely-legible window sign told me that CannaMart doesn’t open until 11 a.m., an hour or two later than most businesses, but I suppose it’s best to keep hours similar to those of your “patients”.

I have to admit that I expected more of a third-world hashish market feel when I walked into the reception area, but it was actually more like a regular doctor’s office. I spoke with the receptionist through a clear bullet-proof window slot and asked her if I could speak with the proprietor.

Fortunately, I guess, she’s a partner in this business and was happy, or at least neutral, about talking to me about medical marijuana, so she buzzed me in through the locked door and into the belly of the beast.

Though she was fairly talkative and willing to answer most of my questions, she refused to give me her name or the name of her partner. In an ironic twist of fate, further research seems to indicate that this proprietor/partner is none other than Natalia, the Russian temptress who exchanged a series of love letters with the host of this blog.

I was also refused a request to take a picture or two of the medicinal area where patients can choose between varieties of smoke-able, edible, drinkable and encapsulated versions of marijuana. Natalia told me that CannaMart has an exclusive photography arrangement with someone else. Is that someone else a site dedicated to the celebration of the marijuana plant called Nug Porn? You be the judge. By the way, the existence of Porn Nug ought to tell you everything you need to know about whether or not marijuana is treasured for its “medicinal” value or for some of its other attributes.

I asked Natalia what motivated her to get into the Cannabis business. Besides her desire to “help people,” Natalia saw a recession-proof business opportunity. After all, she said, “What am I going to do? Sell cars? No one’s buying cars. Sell insurance? There’s an insurance agency on every corner. Real estate? The real estate market sucks.”

Despite Natalia’s reassurances that Cannabis outlets like CannaMart are legitimate, and I suppose that technically they are, my overall impression can be characterized in one word: sketchy. Why the secrecy? Even the business card she handed me didn’t have any names on it. Is it any wonder that marijuana “dispensaries,” or marts, are having a difficult time getting capital through their local bank?

Maybe I’m naïve, ignorant or both, but the medical value of marijuana is questionable at best. If there truly was medicinal value THC and CBD would have been regulated by the FDA and dispensed by pharmacies a long time ago.

The best I could get out of Natalia was that marijuana may be able to reduce pain and inflammation, relax muscles, relieve spasms, stimulate appetite (Duh! Just look at the pizza place next door!), reduce pressure inside the eye and other variations of the relaxation refrain. Anyone who’s smoked it is aware of the “benefits,” but is mainly concerned with the fringe benefits of simply getting high.

Ultimately, this has little to do with “medical marijuana” and everything to do with taking steps toward general legalization. That’s fine; let’s have that debate, but to place it under the guise of “medical marijuana” is dishonest.

Apparently, no one in the Obama administration has bothered to read Arizona’s law, but they are so heavily invested in their ideology that what they want to believe about the law makes it magically turn into what they believe it is: a racist, fascist excuse for Arizona’s Gestapo-like police to harass and detain anyone with dark skin or an accent.

I know exactly how William Shatner felt in the Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet". Does anyone else notice that the Obama administration is lying about Arizona's immigration law? Stewardess! There's a creature on the wing!

Every time I hear someone in the Obama administration denounce Arizona’s law – from Obama himself down to people whose job it is to actually know the law, like Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano – I feel like I’m living in an episode of the Twilight Zone. I’m almost as shocked and perplexed as William Shatner was when he saw a creature on the wing of the airplane he was flying on. Is this really happening and does anyone else notice it?

This is just the tip of the wing, however, as the belief in an alternative universe translates to every conceivable issue. Cyclical, historical climate change turns into Armageddon. Babies are no longer babies, but clumps of unorganized tissue that reveal themselves as babies only after they leave the womb. The only way to make airplanes safe from terrorists is not to look for terrorists. And so on and so forth.

My favorite is how progressives turn the First Amendment into something completely different than what it actually says. They believe it calls for the “separation of church and state,” though it says no such thing. It actually reads, in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” That’s funny, the words “separation,” “church,” or “state” refuse to appear in the First Amendment. Maybe they’re hiding elsewhere in the Constitution? Or maybe not.

Despite the conspicuous absence of these words from the Constitution, progressives are constantly shouting down any religious references in the public square based on the Constitution’s supposed prohibition of religious speech through the “separation” clause. No such clause exists and the Amendment clearly states that Congress “shall make no law,” which means, for any progressives reading this, that Congress “shall make no law.” Do I need to repeat the phrase again so it’s clear? Apparently I do, but even if I do repeat it, progressives will still read, “separation of church and state.” It’s exasperating to say the least.

In the same way, progressives read the First Amendment’s free speech clauses as applying only to individuals and the causes they believe in. In other words, if you’re an organization representing the interests of a group of people, you’re not entitled to the same speech rights as an individual. Moreover, if you’re a group progressives distrust and malign, say an evil corporation or a conservative non-profit, you have even fewer rights to free speech, if any.

Progressives fervently believe that the First Amendment applies only to individuals when it’s in their best interests to believe this (see Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission), though the text itself says, rather clearly: “…or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The key phrase here is “of the people”. Note that it does not read, “of the person,” nor does it say, “of the people we agree with who aren’t racist Nazi homophobes like we say they are because they don’t believe in the same foolish notions of creating an earthly Utopia like we do.”