It's been pretty difficult to get myself motivated to 'blog for a long time and even harder since I got serious about using Twitter. That last part alone makes me want to punch myself in the face. Anyway, I may not 'blog that much, but when I get a chance I will post something written by Carville, because that weird-looking motherfucker cracks me up.

American Exceptionalism is something I think about from time to time. Belief in this principle, right or wrong, has gotten us into a bit of trouble.

Conservatives believe the United States is exceptional because its people are inherently good. And we are.

See, that's where it's dangerous. "We will be greeted as liberators." Thinking we are inherently good leads to arrogance like that which causes some major headaches.

I find it hard to say that we are inherently exceptional. Our ideals, though? Yeah I think those are pretty fucking exceptional. Equality. Justice. Freedom. Yes, we do fuck those up a lot, and I mean a lot, but the principles are good. This country was founded upon very exceptional ideas.

And granted, these ideals were laid forth by the Founding Fathers, a group of white, male, landholding slave owners who said "all men are created equal." The fact that they used the word "men" is of course a huge starting point for problems. Other hypocrisies such as having slaves (as many but not all did) really don't help. And of course I have issues with the word "created" just because that has dei-rific connotations. But just because the source is kind of full of shit doesn't mean the message is bad.

All people are equal. It's hard for a lot of people to swallow that one, because it means blacks are equal, homosexuals, you name it -- everyone is equal. Not because it's god given or any bullshit like that, it's just a good idea. And no, this is not to say we are socialist or communist, so quit fucking complicating things, will 'ya?

Equality, justice, freedom. These are inherently good principles. Period.

It is striking that the most avid proponents of an assertive unilateralism in which other countries are expected to trust us -- and our government -- simply because we are good are the same conservatives who so distrust government at home.

That is an extremely interesting point and I'll just let that one marinate.

Liberals see the United States as exceptional because of our principles of limited government, embedded in the Constitution.

Hmmmm, wait, what? Liberals and Democrats are all about big government, right? Lots of bureaucracy to help the people, right? Hell, that's what that whole last post was about.

The left believes in big government. Well maybe. It's kinda hard to really say what's "big" government and what's "limited goverment." Alright well maybe not totally difficult -- totalitarian societies, for example, that's some pretty fuckin' big government. But still, lefties are not for limited government, conservatives are, right?

Well, conservatives are always for less government. There's a definite semantic difference. It just sounds good, right? We need less government, yeah, awesome.

Sometimes less is more, though! Like if you're thinking about making a decision involving your uterus or marrying the person you love. Then we definitely do not need less government, we need to get the government all up in your shit. I guess because we and our government are inherently good? Man, this is all starting to sound like a load of horseshit, isn't it?

I guess I've gotten off track though from the thesis of the article, which is also interesting -- namely, that both sides of the aisle believe in American exceptionalism even if conservatives claim a monopoly on the idea. As I stated above, I believe in the idea too, to a degree. I don't think it makes us better than everyone else or gives us the right to do whatever the fuck we want, although it does make us better than a lot of others in some ways.

No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. -- Churchill

We didn't invent democracy and I'm not trying to pretend that we did. But we've given it a pretty good shot and, despite what some may say, despite our missteps, continue to do so. Oh and while I'm at it don't listen to anyone who starts talking of us becoming a police state. Some actions in the past and even present day (I'm referring of course to some of the reactions and overreactions to the Occupy movement) have not been pretty but anyone who says that makes us a police state has no idea what the fuck a real police state is like. Even if we fuck up, our darkest hours are better than some on their brightest days.

That being said, just because we've got awesome principles that we kinda practice, that doesn't mean we need to be total dicks about it, ya know?

This shit fucking pisses me off. Is childhood obesity a problem? Yes. Is it the fault of McDonald's? No. It's the fault of shitty parents and a lazy fucking society. Ronald has never shown up at anyone's house with a sack of greasy burgers and a gun and a mission to make you or your kids fat.

We need to start sterilizing more people (and if that means everyone so be it) because there are way too many people having kids who just don't want to do their fucking job as a parent. Enough is enough. And yeah I know parents can get a toy for a measly ten cents extra but it's the principle goddammit.

Tim Tebow is my quarterback; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,
He leadeth me beside the still sidelines,
He restoreth my injuries,
He leadeth me in the paths of victory for Tim's name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of defeat,
I will fear no D-line, for thou art with me;
Thy legs and thy legs, they comfort me.
Thou preparest soft coverage before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with helmet; my contract runneth over.

Surely low-scoring games and fourth quarter comebacks shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of Tebow forever.
-- Tsalm 15+8

Wow, so many things to say about this fucked up Penn State thing, but as always, The Onion says all that needs to be said.

OK, well I can probably find a couple more things to say. I feel like I should say something upfront here, as I know it's awkward at best for me of all people to be commenting considering my typical laissez faire attitude towards jokes about this kind of thing. The difference there is that even if you find such posts tasteless or offensive in the end they are all just bullshit -- but multiply that stuff by the complex conjugate and shit just got real.

Anyway, yeah, the whole focus on football and how every single article about the scandal comes back to that really is pretty fucked up. I know that realistically you can't expect different from the media but still.

I find myself doing it too. Like I start to think, well, part of you wants to give someone like Paterno the benefit of the doubt even though this looks horrible, and wait, what? Man, fuck Joe Paterno. Dude lost his job and his reputation is forever tarnished. Big fucking deal. Doubtful he's gonna have any real legal woes and the worst he will have to deal with is some inconvenience. And he's gonna be dead after not too long anyway. All of which is preferable to some of the alternatives in this case.

Oh, and for all you Penn Staters who are all worried about your school's reputation and whatnot, or are for some reason overly concerned about who coaches your team of future burger flippers: fuck you. Fuck you kids who are simply mad that Paterno got canned while not knowing shit about shit. At most some of you are paying token lip service to how we should be focusing on the victims and their messed up lives but really all you give a shit about is yourselves. The worst you'll have to deal with is maybe the football team won't be quite as good anymore (trust me you can learn to live with that) and in the future when you tell people you went to Penn they'll be like, "Oh yeah? Huh." That's all. Did I mention, fuck you.

So the SpHerminator's sexual harassment issues just won't go down quietly.

"I want you, Mr. Cain, to come clean."

Yeah that's really the only reason I posted this. Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. Reading the article though I couldn't help but wonder if those who put it together were having some fun or if it's just my fucked up mind:

"... get it out in total"

"Until something comes out that's concrete..."

"...it, is really hard"

"I think what you're seeing is a huge assault..."

Never a good sign when something potentially important is riding on a state like Mississippi.

Along with the issue of the religious right trying to codify their beliefs, there's people saying scary shit like this:

"This is a principle. ... All of those other details can be worked out," she said.

"Clearly we would anticipate there would be a litigation challenge on this issue and the legislature would have to fill in all of the blanks for this as we go forward," said Mississippi's secretary of state, Delbert Hosemann.

When you're talking about amending a state's constitution (in this case one probably written in crayon), in a manner with potentially far-reaching consequences, maybe you oughta have some details worked out and blanks filled in beforehand. Of course, keeping things vague and simple is what they are looking for so they can potentially take it to those far-reaching lengths.

Extra nice is that second quote from the freaking Secretary of State for Mississippi. This is an official elected to a fairly high office. Awesome.

Also love the family mentioned in the article, who are against the measure not because the proposed amendment is just plain wrong, but because it impacts them and what they want personally. Assholes.

I really hope they don't fuck this up tomorrow but I'm not holding out too much hope for a state that consistently ranks poorly in education.

Big ups to Andy Rooney, who -- while he had his flaws -- managed to make not just a career, but a life out of being cranky. Out of these segments I particularly enjoyed the Bill Gates and art segments.

So you may or may not have seen this video:

After which you need to see this, if you also have not, to know that Jon Huntsman's daughters are awesome:

And of course I would be remiss if I didn't go find a pic of them sans mustaches:

It's nice to see that the Republicans have their limits. After years of calling Obama a nazi, a socialist, questioning his religion and where he was born, saying he's destroying America... And of course those are just the things they will say in public. But a depiction of Obama as a zombie with a bullet hole in his head, that's too far. Good to know.