The Buck and Mike Blog

Note: While I don’t totally agree with the tone of Mark Morford’s following opinion piece, I think his view of the demise of the radical Christian Right is accurate, so I’m sharing it here. –Buck

It is the end of the nutball Christian right. Here is your proof. To go

By Mark Morford,
SF Gate (San Francisco Chronicle)
Friday, July 11, 2008

Hey, remember the angry evangelicals? The quivering clan of militant Christoholics who propelled Bush into office and seized the national narrative for a few terrifying moments about five years back, ran deep into the woods with it and rubbed it all over their naughty bits in a frenzy of fear and confusion and lust for all things homophobic and saccharine and spiritually denigrating?

Dying. Nearly dead. Gasping their last. Very soon to be a footnote, a caricature, a gag, a punch line, blasted to the dustbin of history like dried housefly limbs after a sneeze. You should know this now.

Yes, you are right; they already were a caricature, a cultural pothole, a nasty rash in the armpit of society. But it wasn’t all that long ago that they were, through a bizarre series of sociopolitical machinations still being parsed by baffled historians, a powerful rash, hugely newsworthy, as dangerous and unstoppable as they were wrongheaded and sad. Remember?

You were not much younger than you are right now. As the Bush era crested, as the neocons’ power reached nuclear levels, when female nipples and f-words and evil gay agendas ruled the news, the evangelical Right–led by the most virulent, spittle-flecked gaggle of mental throwbacks to ever stain the American newswires, Focus on the Family (Dr. James Dobson’s clan) and the American Family Association and its nefarious leader, the Rev. Donald Wildmon–these groups controlled, for a brief, awful moment, the national dialogue. They were the temporary arbiters of taste, the warped conscience of a freaked-out culture. And lo, it was ugly.

Rejoice, won’t you? For their time is over.

Did you know the AFA recently boycotted McDonald’s?
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Christian right, Mark Morford, Focus on the Family, American Family Association

Sometimes when something interesting happens in my life, I imagine it being channeled through my sister Marsha. Marsha is a story-teller, and if I imagine her telling my story it’s always a better story, because she’s a better story-teller.

Today I left work at my regular time, 6 p.m. That gives me just enough time to get downstairs to catch the S-1 bus home. There aren’t many S-1 buses in the evening so I am always sure to get to the bus stop before the last one passes me by. » Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, ye scalawags, tis that time of year again. To prepare, mateys, ye must all learn how to talk like a pirate! It’s a difficult language, so you can always use the English-to-Pirate Translator in a pinch. Once you’ve mastered the language, try the Official Talk Like a Pirate Personality Inventory, and prepare to board!

Talk Like a Pirate

I don’t know why, but this video clip makes me laugh so hard it hurts. It’s a ten year old kid at a county fair being interviewed for the local news. Here’s the setup, from today’s Washington Post:

Let’s take it from the top. It’s May 31. [Jonathon] Ware and his sisters are visiting the Rose Festival in Portland, Ore. Jonathon has just left a face-paint booth, where he has emerged looking like Bart Simpson remade as a flesh-eater from “Dawn of the Dead.” A KGW correspondent is on hand for one of those “Look what’s happening downtown!” stories that are a staple of local news. She stops Jonathon and asks him to stand still for a quick, live interview.

Click below to watch what happens next.

Wayne Besen’s parents and my parents have been friends for many years. The last time Buckley and I were in South Florida to see my parents, we went to spend an afternoon with the Besens in Miami Beach. (Wayne was in New York.) Buck and I are somewhat older (and stodgier) than Wayne, and I admit I bust his chops when I think he’s out-of-line. Sometimes the things he says or writes make me cringe, but most of the time he makes me proud to know him just the same, and the video below made me laugh. This video is a segment from Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, and may be a little “out there” for some of our regular viewing audience, but the rest of you will likely laugh hysterically like I did. Way to go, Wayne!
[Note: Comedy Central split it into two parts, so you’ll have to watch them both — you’ll just have to!]

Wayne Besen, The Daily Show

As promised I am back with some words you can substitute for the swear words you usually use (i know you are all potty mouths out there…one especially, you know who you are and living in the country does not excuse you! )

So, first here are some commonly used Mormon replacements that my brother has kindly supplied me with: For the “f” word, you can substitute “fudge”. Then there’s “That fetching jerk!” and “That guy’s a freakin’ idiot!” Other popular terms: “Oh my heck!” “H-E-double toothpicks.” » Read the rest of this entry »

Today, September 19, is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. So…talk like a pirate, matey!

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Families are the basic unit of society and we are flogged with “family values” every day (as if all families were alike and had identical values). Yet to me families are the most puzzling of all social constructs. This week I had a conversation with a coworker and we decided that family behaviors can be downright weird.

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I just read this article on The Onion, the satirical online news site calling itself “America’s Finest News Source.” This must-read article is entitled “Bill Of Rights Pared Down To A Manageable Six.”

Just in case you don’t know what the original ten are, here’s a link. And I’ll throw in a link to the National Archive’s site on the United States Constitution, for good measure.