Lies.com people are talking about a New York Times reporter’s anti-war commencement speech at Rockford College. As soon as the audience got the gist of what war correspondent Chris Hedges was talking about, they started booing, chanting, and blowing air horns. Several times people in the audience jumped onstage to disconnect Hedges’ microphone.

It’s certainly debatable whether a political speech like Hedges’ belonged at a graduation ceremony. (Although anyone with half a brain would realize a war correspondent for the New York Times might have a thing or two to say about the current conflict.) But what’s much worse is the behavior of the graduates and audience, who couldn’t even sit politely and listen to views counter to their own. My mother taught me to behave better than that.

The press coverage also gets under my skin. “Speaker disrupts RC graduation” reads the headline I linked to above. No, it was the audience that disrupted it. And the saga of poor graduate Mary O’Neill, who was “stunned” by Hedges’ remarks, and left the ceremony “in tears”?

Poor thing.

This story is fascinating because it sheds light on the state of discourse in this country, which is to say, it doesn’t exist. Maybe next year, they can just sing “America The Beautiful” at the Rockford College commencement. It’d make the ceremony shorter, anyway.

Today I baked a lemon pie.

“The most powerful emotion in the world (certainly the one most capable of obliterating reason) is fear. We are no longer a nation of pioneers and risk-takers, we are a nation that wants to be tucked into bed. And if Mr. Bush says he’ll scare the boogeyman back into the closet, then we’ll let him touch us like he wants, even if it doesn’t feel good…

“The more I think about it, the more the molestation metaphor fits. America, as a group consciousness, is at heart a generous, kind, friendly nation. Unfortunately, it’s also a fairly young, naive nation which can be easily manipulated and taken advantage of. Like a child, scare it with one hand and offer protection with the other, and you have it in your thrall. And like an abused child, it will struggle to rationalize away even the most blatant abuses because it doesn’t want any trouble.

America has two black eyes, and is trying to tell the world that it fell out of bed.”

-from a discussion on SmirkingChimp.com about the possibility of another terrorist attack on the U.S.

Word of the day: poltroon

“The thing that sets Fleischer apart in his own little circle of hell, for me, is his obvious contempt for the people who he was dealing with. But in that regard he seems the perfect face for an administration filled with smug and contemptuous poltroons.”

-from Plastic discussion on Ari’s departure

So Ari Fleischer is out as White House press secretary. That’s one resignation I would love to know the real reason behind. My “favorite” moment of Ari’s tenure? When, after Bill Maher made his infamous remark about the U.S. being “cowardly” in its attacks on Afghanistan, Fleischer said the situation was a reminder “to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do. This is not a time for remarks like that; there never is.”

Welcome to George W. Bush’s America.

His final big whopper was a memorable one too, maintaining that the aircraft carrier that hosted Bush’s “We Won” speech would be hundreds of miles offshore, necessitating the grandstanding jet arrival and military flight suit photo-op. That was a lie.

Is is just me, or did anyone else regard him as just half a step away from Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf? The difference was, we laughed at Muhammed, and swallowed Ari’s lies whole.

The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Poke My Eyes Out

My nominee for Best Weblog Post Title of the Year. Arthur says all the things that I’m too worn down to say. Bravo, Arthur.

We hold these truths to be self-evident

1. Michael Moore is fat.
2. Ann Coulter has a horse face.

Phone conversation

My mother: Hello, Nana! Happy Birthday! How are you feeling?

My grandmother: I’m terrible. I want to die. And why haven’t I heard from you since you were here?

Mom: We’ve all been trying, Nana. I’ve tried to call just about every day, and I know the boys have been trying to reach you today. We never get an answer.

Nana: Well, I haven’t been answering my phone.

Mom: …That would explain it.

Blowing my own horn

When I get into periodic frenzies of commenting on other people’s weblogs, like now, I wish that more comment systems (like Movable Type’s) had a feature that John and I programmed into ours: a “notify me” checkbox that sends an email when someone else comments on a post you’ve commented on.

It’s great for the commenter, because it helps you keep track of where you’ve left comments and what else is being said. And I think it’s good for the weblog author too, because I bet it increases both traffic and comment participation.

Word of the day: inchoate