Christopher Macintosh’s Interesting Tidbits

I was going through some memorable quotes from my favorite TV show, The West Wing, and ran across this conversation between President Bartlet and a Dr. Laura clone. It’s priceless!

President Josiah Bartlet: Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.

Dr. Jenna Jacobs: I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.

President Josiah Bartlet: Yes it does. Leviticus.

Dr. Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.

President Josiah Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here’s one that’s really important because we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits

I know that many younger and/or “in-your-face” LGBT people like to refer to themselves as “queer,” but as a gay man who was beaten almost every day in junior high and who faced almost daily abuse at home from intolerant bigots, I find the term offensive. I would no more use the word “queer” than I would “nigger,” “spic,” “kike,” or “wop.” It is a debate within the LGBT community and here is an interesting discussion from the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. What are your thoughts?

Here is a GREAT critique of cable news from Slate.

It is such a typical story in America that hysteria and over-reaction to a few truly heinous crimes results in the crime described in this story. In civilized countries, sex-offender lists are left to law enforcement, not paraded around the public, inviting the sort of vigilantism we see in this Los Angeles Times article.

William F. Buckley, Jr., believe it or not, has a very profound and compelling column in National Review entitled Fighting Despair. I think it is something to ponder.

This is a very interesting comment from the British newspaper, The Independent with some quite elegant and eloquent commentary on the American spirit and the vapidity of American television news.