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"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
July 11, 2006
WE MUST ACT NOW TO DESTROY ROTARIANISM
I'm pleased to see Slate has put up this piece of mine about the terrible menace posed by Rotary clubs. I've been trying to warn everyone about the EXTREME DANGER OF ROTARIANISM for years, and I'm happy the world is finally waking up.
Posted at July 11, 2006 02:14 PM | TrackBackVery interesting. And I love the phrase "conspiracy gridlock." I'm waiting for the day when some group follows a conspiracy too far and identifies itself as its own worst enemy.
Posted by: Rob Weisberg at July 11, 2006 02:38 PMI enjoyed the Slate article. I'm curious about the one reference that lumped the Lions in with the Masons and Rotarians. Is this pure conspiracy gridlock or is there a connection there as well?
Posted by: Trish at July 11, 2006 02:53 PMThat was ridiculously entertaining and informative. Great article Mr. Schwarz.
Posted by: BRG at July 11, 2006 03:01 PMAs I recall, almost all fraternal groups require a belief in God for admission to their ranks. You can be certain that it is the Christian God they refer to.
Posted by: Claude Clayton at July 11, 2006 03:34 PMRob, buddy, once the Democrats do that, they'll put someone in the White House. Could be worse, technically.
Posted by: Sully at July 11, 2006 04:24 PMRob, Sully -
Actually you've hit the nail on the donkey. The Dems HAVE identified themselves as their own worst enemy; that's why they do stupid shit like voting for the bankruptcy bill or the resolution supporting the president vis-a-vis Iraq.
Hadn't occurred to me before that the D's are a conspiracy, rather than a political party.
Posted by: Aaron Datesman at July 11, 2006 05:25 PMIt'd be as much as my life is worth to tell you why, but no conspiracy theory is complete absent the Toastmasters connection.
Cheers,
weldon
You have to admit, although very slowly, sterilizing all the children would eradicate polio, along with all other disease.
Congratulations on being published, Jon.
But criticizing their 'sloppy' rhetoric and/or their 'imperfect' knowlege of 'the facts' DOESN'T address the the *root* cause(s) and/or the *real* problem(s) which give rise to the violence SOME of the people you ridiculed advocate and/or 'indulge' in...
Does it?
Posted by: Mike at July 11, 2006 07:43 PMJonathan, you have got to watch this video on Youtube. THIS short VIDEO is an ENIGMA but somehow I think it has something to do with terrorism.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-TskSLM50FY&search=reverend%20alecia
Posted by: Yahweh at July 11, 2006 08:14 PMAs a youth in high school, I was recruited into the Key Club, the high school affiliate of the Kiwanis Club. Not a natural joiner, I never penetrated into the mysteries and conspiracies, if any.
Posted by: mistah charley at July 11, 2006 09:17 PMsk - Your story dovetails PERFECTLY with the stories I've begun to see leaking out of the MSM. Sometime in the last few days, I saw a story on ABC's "World News Tonight" about the "Religious Left" when it was on a tv at work.
The point most of these stories come to? If God and Jesus are TRULY about "LOVE" (as the reich-wingers CLAIM), how can people like Pastor Rigby and Mr. jensen (in the story sk linked to) be anything other than just other "lost lambs" like all the other Christians?
I love the fact the reich-wingers are having apoplectic fits over the facts of their religion being imposed on their Dogma.
What's more... I mean it's not like any of these people on the so-called "Religious Left" are anything horrible like... I dunno...
Rotarians, or anything. ;-D
This is awesome! My bandmates and I have been trying to come up with a band name for months; yet last week, when I suggested we call ourselves "The Savage Rotarians," they laughed and shot me down. Sadly, I suspect even your highly informative article will fail to convince them of my prospicience. When will the world wake up to this danger? Or my prospicience?
Posted by: D Clark at July 12, 2006 01:07 AMSK, that's a fascinating story. The angry reactionaries got their bowels in a hell of an uproar over it. They have no objection to pushing Heritage Foundation talking points, but the broad-minded ecumenism of Pastor Rigby is beyond the pale. Thanks for the link.
Posted by: J. Alva Scruggs at July 12, 2006 09:32 AMHey, Jon, what kind of a name is "Plotz"? He sounds like a . . . Knight Templar.
My grandfather was a Freemason and a member of the Communist Party of the USA. Also a dandy who drank a fifth of scotch a day. Died in 1947 alas, or he could have provided Gunner Joe with some real good conspiracy shit.
Posted by: Rob Weisberg at July 12, 2006 11:31 AMClayton,
The Christian god is the same as the Muslim god.
Posted by: saurabh at July 12, 2006 12:35 PMI am a Rotarian, and realize that the posters here are speaking tongue in cheek. However, for the record, I want to make two points.
First, there is no obligation in Rotary to believe in God (any God). Second, Rotary is not affiliated with any political party. Our efforts to erradicate polio are being done hand-in-glove with the United Nations, an organization that Rotary helped found.
Posted by: Chris Gerrob at July 12, 2006 01:32 PMOur efforts to erradicate polio...
Yeah, right.
Posted by: abb1 at July 12, 2006 01:40 PMGee Jonathan... I'm so glad you've awakened to the anti-Semitism spewing forth from the Arab world. It shouldn't amuse you, it should scare you. Hamas, Hezbollah and countless other Islamist fascist groups are spouting blood libels from "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and passing it off as the truth. All lies. They believe Hitler was ahead of his time and on the right track. If more Americans knew what was really going on in the Middle East, they'd be shocked and appalled.
So I'm glad to see some of you on the left are at least somewhat informed as to the poisonous rhetoric coming forth from the Middle East. Now you can see how that nutjob in Iran came to power and how Hamas swept to power in Palestine.
Your Slate article will at least educate some people and even if they conclude "well, it just Bush's fault somehow... that's why they hate us"... perhaps just a few facts will sink in...
Posted by: pdxrightwinger at July 12, 2006 06:33 PMHe's on our side now, pdxrightwinger in the fight against the Islamofascist menace. It took a threat to the Rotarians to bring him 'round, but once the scales dropped from his eyes. . . he was ready.
It was clever of you to see through his humorous essay, which in reality is a way of leading the hysterical left into the clear light of reason. Maybe this will be a way for them to back off their ignorant opposition, based as it is on a visceral hatred of Bush. If they can laugh at their foibles and character flaws, the way we on the right manage, they may learn to overcome them.
Keep up the good fight, man. It's not hopeless even at this late date.
Posted by: J. Alva Scruggs at July 12, 2006 08:47 PMQuote: Indeed, in some quarters Rotary is perceived just as it is here. As one youthful Cairo blogger reports: "They seem nice enough, but kind of boring."
If it is uncool to volunteer your time to serve your community and the communities around the world, then I guess I am proud to be uncool. What do you do in your community , Jonathan?
Posted by: Craig at July 12, 2006 09:14 PMOne commenter(abb1) seemed to ridicule Rotary's efforts agains polio. Ignorance is a deadly disease that feeds the problems of our world. Check out just one of many articles about Rotary's efforts against polio, abb1, at http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/presscenter/ritnews/pdfs/nytimes05may11.pdf. And then if you are still a bit smug why don't you take the time to meet some people that are members of Rotary. What do you do to help?
Posted by: Craig at July 12, 2006 09:26 PMRotarians are evil.
Posted by: J. Alva Scruggs at July 12, 2006 11:18 PMSorry Craig, I was trying to make a joke. And failed, obviously.
Posted by: abb1 at July 13, 2006 11:01 AMIn the words of the 'Gang of Four' (punk-rock group, not Chinese leaders) "Save me from the people who would save me from myself. They got muscles for brains!"
Posted by: americanintifada at July 14, 2006 02:07 AMIn the nineties, we rented out the basement suite in our house to an immigrant single-mom Irishwoman who would scare the life out of me by filling the suite with lit candles (hundreds of them!) on Catholic feast days. I soon discovered she was part of the lunatic paranoid right-wing fringe of the Catholic Church. When she moved out she left reams of pamphlets behind, many of which were specifically directed against the Masonic conspiracy to rule the world.
She was also convinced the government was reading her mail.
Posted by: hector at July 14, 2006 08:15 PM