Sarah Palin, Wanna-Be Banner of Books

[beagle]

It's called diplomacy. You flatter the locals by using a few key phrases, drink some of the local delicacy, put in a few cultural advisers, then in return teach them a few phrases of English like "See that gunboat in the harbour" and "You're now part of the Empire".

[Swatopluk]

You be careful or this will no longer be Scot-free!

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

And they shall come bearing haggis.

[pieces o nine]

She turned me into a newt!

Link  from Keith Olbermann's Countdown, 9-19-08.

[Pachyderm]

You be careful or this will no longer be Scot-free!

Nothing in the Monastery is Scot-free. For I am here, and the Great North British quiet taking over of the world is on schedule. And anyone denigrating haggis will get trampled.

I admit I had trouble getting a kilt big enough, and the sporran is rather capacious as well.

[beagle]

If we admit defeat would you consider withdrawing Gordon Brown?

[Pachyderm]

No, I'm afraid not. We are just too happy he isn't here......

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

She turned me into a newt!

but...you don' look loike a newt!

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

She turned me into a newt!

but...you don' look loike a newt!

_{I got better...}

[pieces o nine]

Just back from a birthday dinner with extended family. Politics came up and the chronic chameleons chameleoned all over the place, criticizing the "flip-flopping" and *lack of ethics(!)* of both candidates.

I was the Lone Liberal (sad, when a moderate candidate with some definitely conservative opinions is considered a capital-L Liberal) citing the Constitution and voting records, all but drowned out by people grateful that "at least we have a president now who admits when he does something wrong and isn't a sleazy liar about it".

They also hate-hate-HATE the Clintons so much that they haven't realized there isn;t one on the ticket at the mo. THey were incredulous that the3 local high school history teacher is falsely claiming that deficits were run up under Reagan and Poppy, erased under Clinton [hock! spit!] and converted to surpluses, and that we have been plunged into record deficits again by Bush 43 "because you can make statistics say anything you want them to."

One cited Sarah's proximity to Russia (O!M!G!) and another expressed fears that Obama is secretly a Muslim. I challenged this on Constitutional, Bill of Rights, and basic reasoning grounds and learned that

DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL DRUMROLL
The Bible predicts that a Muslim will take over the presidency and...

at which point I momentarily considered just plunging a fork into my temple to End It All. Instead I challenged them to produce chapter and verse (cruel, that; my family is RC and we generally don't memorize that part -- haha), pointed out that their favorite "Prophecy" texts are the oral traditions of a Bronze Age nomadic culture which saw everyone who is *now* classified as Arabic as a the closest enemies and competitors for the land, and that Islam is a later development than either Jewish or Christian texts.

They started citing poor old Nostradamus and "all the prophecies" in other religions and cultures. AS IF  everyone who has ever *lived* on this planet has had a single-minded obsession with the election of the United States President in 2008 CE. So I said something not very toadfishy about end-times prophecies and their 100% ability to disappoint, year after tear, decade after decade, and century after century.

Then we all had icecream and parted as friends.

Still, one weeps for the willfully untapped potential of H sap sap.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

I still find it amazing that Catholics and other Christians believe Nostradamus.
And ack! The mis-citing of Revelations! If I recall correctly, the assumption is that whoever makes peace in the Middle East (which will have to include the Jews, since they will finally have a homeland again) will be the Anti-Christ. I doubt it'll ever happen. Also, I saw one of the terrible mive Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 movies some years ago (not gonna lie, the CGI for Satan was amazing for 1999). I suspect that if there was a change to vilify Muslims, the very very patriotic producers would have done it, if it was in line with at least a little bit of Revelations.

[anthrobabe]

I admit I had trouble getting a kilt big enough, and the sporran is rather capacious as well.

Sir Scot-- ye be veeery careful where ye puts ye sporran while ye be drivin-- many a fella parks it on the hip whilst driving so that it is out of the way of the steering wheel-- which gives the local constabulary a bit of an eyeful during traffic stops.   

[Swatopluk]

Trivia: The son of Nostradamus was executed. He predicted a large fire. When it did not came on time, he "helped" and was found out. I can see certain parallels to modern Armageddonistas (just the punishement is notoriously absent).

[Pachyderm]

I admit I had trouble getting a kilt big enough, and the sporran is rather capacious as well.

Sir Scot-- ye be veeery careful where ye puts ye sporran while ye be drivin-- many a fella parks it on the hip whilst driving so that it is out of the way of the steering wheel-- which gives the local constabulary a bit of an eyeful during traffic stops.   

[Pachyderm]

I admit I had trouble getting a kilt big enough, and the sporran is rather capacious as well.

Sir Scot-- ye be veeery careful where ye puts ye sporran while ye be drivin-- many a fella parks it on the hip whilst driving so that it is out of the way of the steering wheel-- which gives the local constabulary a bit of an eyeful during traffic stops.   

Do kilts in America have a hole behind the sporran? Or are they shorter than the Scottish version? Sliding the sporran round is commonly done for the dancing, to avoid the weight of a decorative sporran, full of wallet, car keys and all the loose change you have managed not to spend descending on a vulnerable part of the anatomy, restrained in it's swing as the sporran is by the little metal chains. A mistake made only once.....