“Worst ever”

On Keith Olbermann last night, an expert — a psychologist, perhaps? — cautioned against the use of hyperbole with regard to the Virginia Tech shooting. Paraphrasing: Some disturbed individuals will see this as a record to be broken.

In fact, this was no “record.” In the Bath School bombings of 1927, a disgruntled school board member inflicted a much higher death toll. But in the media’s questionable desire to make this into some sort of Guinness Book record, the Blacksburg tragedy has become “the deadliest shooting on a college campus.”

Maybe it’s the media’s fascination with homicidal madness. For them, Cho’s story, like that of all serial killers before him, will eclipse other far worse tragedies for days to come. Iraq is old news. Darfur is old news. Blacksburg is fresh — and since the victims were young, full of promise, and largely middle class, the media cares. Perhaps they’re giving the people what they want; perhaps they’re telling the people what they should want to know.

I’m pleased that some in the media, like Olbermann, have given attention to the victims. This obsession with the John Wayne Gacys and Ted Bundys of the world can’t be good. Every time I see another regurgitation of the Jeffrey Dahmer story on TV, I cringe. I think: Please, don’t do this. Let the man’s memory become a footnote. Don’t encourage the other LIVING sick bastards who want to play me-too.

Doesn’t the media realize that for some individuals the phrase “worst ever” is not a horror, but an invitation?

Fun stuff tomorrow, I promise. The new Cosmo wants to teach me and my wife how to reach orgasm together.

D.

Opposition to embryonic stem cell research: how is it not hypocrisy?

Last night, Karen and I watched a Law and Order episode about embryonic stem cell research. The perp, an ESCR researcher suffering from Parkinson’s disease, had tried to kill an Ann Coulter-esque demagogue who railed against the ESCR cause. He missed, killing someone else instead. On to the trial.

Despite this episode’s peculiar incoherence, the writers managed one good line. Cue the stereotypical Perry Mason scene where the perp, taking the stand, cracks under pressure. He screams at the Ann Coulter clone (and I paraphrase): I AM BETTER THAN A CLUMP OF CELLS IN A PETRI DISH!

Know what? I’m better than a clump of cells, and so is my wife, and my son, and each and every one of you. Each of the American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is better than a clump of cells, as well as each Iraqi, Afghani, Taliban, and al Qaeda operative. Even George W. Bush is better than a clump of cells.

Wow. That was difficult to write. At least now, you know where I’m coming from. So here’s the question: why do pro-lifers loudly oppose ESCR but stay silent about the thousands of embryos destroyed every year as standard operating procedure at IVF clinics worldwide? Why is it evil to donate an unused embryo for medical research purposes, but okay to flush it down the drain?

Discussion and speculations below the cut . . .

(more…)

Courage. Character.

Most of you have probably heard the bad news: Elizabeth Edwards’s breast cancer has returned (report on MSNBC). This morning, Karen and I followed the story with a lot of concern and anxiety. When we heard the couple were holding a press conference to discuss Elizabeth’s health, we feared the worst.

We support John Edwards — but that phrase barely scratches the surface of how we feel about these two. We’re enthusiastic about John and Elizabeth. We admire them. We regard them as heroic figures.

And neither one of us can remember the last time we felt this way about any candidate for the US Presidency.

Some of you know that Karen and I have been through a certain amount of grief. Nothing like John and Elizabeth, who had to get past the death of their son, Wade, but I think we’ve been through enough to appreciate the difficulty of picking things up and moving forward. Tough enough to just keep going; truly remarkable to turn everything around and live an exemplary life of service to the nation.

Before Wade’s death in a car accident in 1996, Edwards was an extremely successful North Carolina trial lawyer. Judging from his book (Four Trials), the man had it made — a much sought-after attorney who had made his reputation by defending the underdog against big corporations. He writes,

I have always been an optimist, but I was a different kind of optimist before Maundy Thursday, April 4, 1996. That was the day my son died and my world stopped turning.

In spite of disappointments that had been real to me, up until that day I had always known mine was a happy life. And I admit that all along I had a secret sense that it would go on like that forever.

Edwards has since attributed his move into politics to this tragedy. Here is a guy — a family — who got kicked in the teeth, but they got up, dusted themselves off, moved on. They did it again in ’04 when Elizabeth was first diagnosed with breast cancer, and they’re doing it now, with the news of her recurrence.

From the MSNBC report:

Mr Edwards insisted it was possible to combine a vigorous campaign with caring for his wife, promising to be at her side “any time, any place” she needed him.

“We’ve been confronted with these kind of traumas and struggles already in our life,” he said, referring to the death of their 16 year-old son in a car accident in 1996. “When this happens you have a choice — you can go and cower in the corner or you can go out there and be tough.”

If you saw the press conference, you know the bond that exists between Elizabeth and John. It’s palpable. They’ve been together thirty years, they’re true partners, they love each other, and it all shows.

Regardless of your political affiliation, take a moment to check out Edwards’s website. Get to know the man. And you can give them your best wishes and prayers here.

D.

Ann Coulter, laugh riot

Last night’s South Park episode had something to do with white people who (accidentally or not) blurt out the N-word, but the satire was unfocused, almost as if Parker and Stone couldn’t figure out how they felt about the issue. But a similar drama is playing out in real life, with the current flap over Ann “Faggot” Coulter. Life has beaten art to the point, friends, and beaten it to a pulp. How can Parker and Stone compete with this?

If you are familiar with Cpl. Matt Sanchez, you probably know him as the handsome 36-year old Columbia University junior and USMC reservist who recently made the rounds of right-wing talk shows like O’Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes, where he received praise for coming forward and complaining about his treatment at the hands of Columbia’s “radical anti-military students” who called him names and mocked his military service. Sanchez was then feted at the CPAC conference where Ann Coulter made her “faggot” remark. Sanchez wrote an op-ed piece on the Columbia experience for the NY Post and began a blog and MySpace page chronicling his media exposure.

Now, if you’re like me, you might think, “Hmm, 36 years old and he’s a junior in college and only a corporal in the Marines?” Odd, but not totally implausible. But Sanchez’ face tinkled a few gay bells out there in fairyland, and last night I began to get emails letting me know that his rather late appearance on the Ivy League scene was because Sanchez has had a lengthy career in gay porn, working under the names Rod Majors (NSFW) and Pierre LaBranche, starring in such art films as Jawbreaker, Donkey Dick, and Glory Holes Of Fame 3, where his “11-inch uncut monster cock” earned him a devoted following.

Now, porn stars are entitled to enter the miliary, although Sanchez obviously had to do it on the downlow. Porn stars are entitled to have a right-wing ideology, even though the very people he supports would love to see gay porn stars strung up by the nuts. (Wait, have I seen that movie?) But, Oh.The.Irony. of Sanchez appearing with Bill O’Reilly who only a couple of days went apoplectic over San Francisco’s “Colt Studio Day.” And OH, the irony of Ann “Faggot” Coulter happily posing with Sanchez for a photo-op. The right-wing has gobbled this porn hunk up with a spoon, never knowing that tons of men have gobbled up his monster cock ON FILM. I love it, I love it, I love it.

The rest of Joe’s post is every bit as delicious. Read it. And while you’re at it, Andrew Sullivan’s column in The Atlantic does a fair job skewering Coulter, too. As for me, I would rather take the low road. Remember this?

Will I eke out a Thirteen today? I hope so. Stay tuned.

D.