There's a hole in daddy's arm
where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothing,
I suppose.
I wonder if hard core George Bush supporters ever watch Jon Stewart late at night and say to themselves, gosh, I wish we had one of those. Because as much as you'd like to believe that Ann Coulter is witty or that Bill O'Reilly is smart or that Sean Hannity is insightful, you just know they're not, and you just know that Jon Stewart and George Clooney and, in this case, John Prine, are way smarter and way cooler and way more astute than any conservative writer or commentator except maybe Clint Eastwood.
And I think conservatives know it as much as anyone knows it. Why else would they even care what gets published in the New York Times or who says what on "60 Minutes" or wins Oscars or Grammies? If the New York Times is really out of step with the majority of right-thinking Americans, then your worries are over, aren't they, Charles Krauthammer?
Not exactly. There was a man who served on our church council in Chatham who never, ever voiced an opinion on the matter of women serving in church office. He just listened to all the arguments and then made up his mind that he wouldn't listen to any of the arguments but just vote the way he felt about the issue, which was that it just wasn't right for women to serve as Deacons. When I challenged him to explain why he believed what he did, he became annoyed and frustrated, and finally blurted out, "that's just the way I feel".
So even though Sam Stone is an amazing song that convinces you that there is something totally messed up with the war in Viet Nam-- it's probably not going to change your mind about Iraq or Iran or North Korea. Those people still need to be killed. And the more they think we want to kill them, the safer we'll all be.