The Carnival is back!

GLENN REYNOLDS SAYS “DON’T MISS IT!”

Simonides: Judah Ben Hur! You’ve come back to us like a returning faith! I want to laugh again, Judah.
Judah Ben-Hur: We will laugh.
Simonides: Laugh, amidst the dust and cobwebs… [sobs]
(Ben Hur: 1959)

It may surprise you to learn that the #1 best selling work of fiction in the history of the United States – at least as far as a percentage of contemporary population – is not a book by Stephen King or any other contemporary author. It is, in fact, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by a mediocre Civil War general and failed politician by the name of Lew Wallace. It has had hundreds of reprintings and has been translated into more than 70 languages. By the late 1890’s, perhaps something on the order of 25% of the literate population of the US had read the book, numbers if translated today would dwarf any other work of fiction by tens of millions.

The story is one of renewal and redemption. These are themes we should certainly be thinking about over the next months as we observe the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast following the most destructive and expensive national disaster in American history.

The faith found by Judah to replace the hate and anger in his heart – a faith that was kindled when he heard Jesus on the cross forgive his executioners and he “felt his words take the sword from my hand” – could hold some lessons for us in these trying days. Perhaps the politicization of the relief efforts surrounding the aftermath of the hurricane was inevitable. Frustration on the left at Bush’s presidency exploded into recrimination almost before hurricane force winds moved inland from the stricken areas on the coast. And the predictable push back by those of us on the right who were at first taken aback by the ferocity of the attacks and then frustrated ourselves at some of the coverage in the MSM has not been a very edifying display for the rest of the world to see.

This is politics in America at the turn of the 21st century. Troubling to some, tiring to many more, I am clueless as to how to fix it or who can fix it or even if it needs fixing. There have been many periods in American history where this kind of partisanship has been the norm. We’ve survived it and gone on to thrive as a nation and a people. I suspect the same will happen here.

That said, sit right down in your easy chair and let your face assume that Carnival stare! Perhaps laughing at ourselves is the best medicine after all.

The American people are very generous people and will forgive almost any weakness, with the possible exception of stupidity.
(Will Rogers)

Right again, Will! Just ask Michael Brown.
(Me)

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Mark Coffey is asking why Eleanor Clift isn’t writing for the New York Times since her clueless screeds fit right in with the MoDo-Krugman-Rich Bush bashers.

Smart and sexy, Mensa Barbie has a jaw dropping story about an Alaskan man who doesn’t have a clue how lucky he is. And to prove how clueless this walrus brain really is, he sues his saviors.

Matt Johnston wonders if the clueless left has their own version of the Constitution of the United States. I’ve often wondered that myself…

Fred Fry has our first entry in the “Sean Penn for Cluebat of the Year” contest. What possessed this guy – besides a healthy dose of hubris – to go into a hurricane ravaged city in the first place?

Jebediah, subbing for Bill Teach on White Trash Wednesday, wonders what planet the dynamic disaster duo of Blanc-o-Nagin comes from.

Kim, subbing for Raven over at And Rightly So wonders if Bill Clinton is actually a First Lady (man?) in waiting. Kim refuses to call the ex-despoiler a man – a designation that may in fact become moot if Hillary becomes President.

The Maryhunter tracks down some past cluelessness of the New York Times on flood control advocacy. When is the Times going to learn there’s an internet out there?

Cao of Cao’s Blog (pronounced “key”) uncovers some interesting associations between Cindy Sheehan (whose Magicial Mystery Bus tour came within a stone’s throw of where I sit this week) and Neo-Nazis. Birds of a feather…

Our friends at The Common Room offer two clueless creeps this week as the Headmistress wonders why Mayor Nagin turned down the use of an Amtrak train that could have evacuated hundreds while Equushick has an interesting question about Sean Penn.

Beth is on a rant again. This time it’s against rich hotel guests in New Orleans whose story reveals a “Trail of Idiocy.”

Josh Cohen has moved to some new digs but still has time to clue us in on some cluelessness in the radio industry. Josh wondered how long it would take advertisers to start cashing in on Katrina…Question answered.

Giacomo has found some (gasp!) cluelessness at the Huffington Post! This time it’s Nathan Gardells who comes in for a well deserved spanking.

Van Helsing buries a woodens stake in the heart of Richard Cohen who seems to have found something wrong with John Roberts. In the immortal words of Gomer Pyle “Well Suh-prahz, suh-prahz!”

The folks at Different River skewer al-Reuters for a bizarre article about hurricane victims in Utah. What part of “Christian charity” don’t the knuckleheads at Reuters understand?

The SoCal Pundit has some choice words for the UN and their so-called reform package. Did you know Kofi “I am not a crook” Annan was going to write them himself?

Orac has an incredible expose of one of the major urban legends that have grown up around the hurricane aftermath. To bogus stories like the 2 year old with the throat cut and canniblism can be added the euthanizing of patients by doctors before evacuating. Excellent and original work!

Here’s a trio of satires that will leave you rolling on the floor. First up is Mr. Satire himself whose site is not safe for work. How does “Black Cannibalism Resurfaces While Katrina Subsides” sound ?

Then there’s the incomparable Mr. Right and his homage to one of my favorite bands. The hurricane and “Bohemian Rhapsody?” Don’t worry, it works!

Finally, The Nose on your Face has “Bush’s Hurricane-Blame Numbers Take A Scary Dip.” The site’s motto says it all: “News so fake you’ll swear it came from the mainstream media.”

The Enticy Institute has the politics of brain function...or is it the brain function of politics?

Don Surber has a strange one from the Nebraska State Fair where officials wanted to shut down an “Oxygen Bar.” Oxygen as a prescription drug? Yikes!

Jay at Stop the ACLU has an Open Letter to ACLU Members. We hope it does some good, but we’re doubtin’ it.

Lovely Pamela at Atlas Shrugs has a dainty, ladylike question for the cluebats who accepted a design for the Flight #93 memorial that included a “Crescent of Embrace” in their design: “Are we f**king crazy or am I in a lunatic asylum and just don’t know it?” Um…good point.

Willisms wonders about the disparity between rank and file voters of the two parties and their attitudes toward the state of Israel. Who’s clueless here? Perhaps Jewish voters should take a second look at Republicans.

Poca-Dot Blog has a quiz. Every time I see this thing I wonder how we can have cluelessness like that exhibited by George Galloway.

Harvey at Bad Example proves absolutely conclusively and beyond the shadow of a doubt that Katrina was in fact George Bush’s fault.

Northstar at People’s Republic of Seabrook asks some very penetrating and relavant questions about FEMA’s role in the disaster.

A North American Patriot asks the question of the week; where were all the 9/11 tributes from the left? Not the first blogger to notice the left’s forgetfullness but with a little more pointed query: “Heads in the sand…Or heads up their asses?”

The smartest pachyderms on the planet – Elephants in Academia - has some real cluelessness on the part of the Washington Post in their coverage of The Freedom Walk on Sunday.

Jimmie K wonders “Where did all the Democrats Go?” at a “coming together” event in Maryland. It being September 11, they were probably sleeping – just like America for the 8 years prior to the attacks.

AJ at Strata-Sphere has been on top of the “Crescent controversy” regarding the Flight #93 memorial and has some choice words for dummies who accepted the design saying it was “the most ignorant and unfeeling act of ‘art’ ever produced in this country. Amen.

Mean Ole Meany is really, really mean and nasty to Cluebat Hall of Famer Michael Moore for writing a letter to people who voted for Bush. Talking about Michael Brown’s qualifications and Moore’s girth is spot on I’d say.

Gentle Miriam laments the passing of Labor Day as a meaninful holiday and wonders it isn’t time to change.

The Skwib has a piece on one of the most exciting scientific hunts in history. Will we be able to find the source of “Flying Spaghetti Monsterism (FSMS), also known as Pastafarianism?” I hope they find it before I give in to this irresistable craving to go out to dinner at an Italian restaurant…

Finally, here’s my own piece on the exhiliration exhibited by the left as Bush’s numbers fell in the aftermath of the disaster. “Dancing on the Graves of Black People.”