big weekend

terribly important:

a review of cleanfall's debut album, idle talk! they are lovely. if you are in the lancaster, PA area and over 21, you should drop whatever you're doing tomorrow (saturday) night and go to their album release show. 9 pm, lizard lounge (at the chameleon club), $5. most likely, anyone reading this who fits that description already knows about it, but i figure i'm not hurting anything by mentioning it.

terribly audacious:

this coming sunday, january 18, has been declared national sanctity of life day!!!!!!

thank goodness there's a day for it, or we'd just ignore it altogether, yeah?

and now, a sketch i've titled, "if you wanted a national pro-life day, you should have just called it that."

The most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent.

no shit? not to bomb the hell out of the evildoers? well, um, this is a little awkward... i hope the government's been performing this most basic duty behind closed doors...

My Administration has been committed to building a culture of life

no shit?! great! in what way? tell me more!!!

by vigorously promoting adoption and parental notification laws, opposing Federal funding of abortions overseas, encouraging teen abstinence, and funding crisis pregnancy programs.

okay, well, that's a let-down.

from the mouths of politicians, "promoting," "opposing," "encouraging," et cetera are people-pleasing, empty words. they're used to avoid indicating that, while they might wish they could, they either cannot, will not, or don't especially want/care to do anything material about whatever the thing is they're discussing. it's fluff. in the eighth year of his presidency, not many people are looking to bush as a mentor, and that's basically all those words mean.

later on...

America is a caring Nation, and our values should guide us as we harness the gifts of science.

really harness 'em. like, death-grip.

one. two. three. four (which, i'll grant, is by bobby kennedy, but if i can read lew rockwell on a semi-regular basis, we can all can handle this).

by the way, what are "our" values, exactly?

and finally...

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constistution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 18, 2009, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies

(by which i assume he means, go to church; it is sunday, after all)

and to underscore our commitment to respecting and protecting the life and dignity of every human being.

if you'd done your "basic duty," sir, this would just be an underscore. as it is, it's one of several last-minute, last-ditch efforts on your part to reclaim some moral high ground, and it's sad.