There is no "high ground".  DC is low all the way through.

(I'm not talking topography at this point.)

My family moved to Arlington, Va, when I started the third grade and I lived there for the next thirty years.  Places like DC are what give malaria-ridden swamps a bad name.

I had never heard about the South African history in that regard and always wondered how those kinds of things were dealt with.  Thanks for sharing that.

Agreed.  James is a professional newsman and can set me straight on this, but I can easily imagine an editor running with the story of "Nazi caught in Minnesota," just because he smelled a hot story.  I hate to be so seemingly cynical, but too often the template for a news story is dragged out of a filing cabinet, the details are filled in, then the story runs without any apparent "Devil's Advocate" questioning as to whether there exists any doubt about the "facts".

I can recall Tuborg doing a number on me a time or two back in my misspent youth.

That reminds me of the old line:

"Want to make God laugh?  Make plans of your own".

It's been very true in my life.

James Lileks is the reason I joined Ricochet and the pairing of the two means that the Internet can never be considered completely worthless, no matter how many funny cat pictures get a million clicks.

(I buy his books, too.)

I think I'm in love with a Cello player.  Is that so very wrong?

Rebutting an obvious falsehood is not a waste of time.  Ignoring it allows it, over time, to become "truth".  That's why, as tedious as it often is, it's worth it to take the time to correct a liberal when they start off with "As everyone knows..." and then go on to spout some foolish claptrap.

A good example from recent times might be Romney's debate moment when Candy Crowley jumped in to help Obama by reinforcing Obama's lie about Benghazi.  Romney should have stared right into the camera and said something like "Ms. Crowley is wrong and our president is wrong.  Go and check it out."  Instead, he stood there in shock like a doofus and let the comment go unchallenged.

As for "credible third parties", if someone tells a lie about me I'm not going to stand around like a baby and wait for someone else to come along - I'm going to fight.  Reagan didn't wait for someone else to point out who was paying for that microphone - he saw something wrong and had the guts to point it out.

No one has their approval ratings fall as low as GWB's were toward the end of his presidency based solely on the unanimous disapproval of the opposition - you need to have some of your natural allies mad at you as well.

One of the things that frustrated me enormously about Bush was that he allowed so many obvious falsehoods to go unrebutted.  If my guy won't defend himself I will eventually grow tired of doing the "defending" for him.  I always felt he was smarter than he let on, but the only advantage of getting your opponent to "misunderstimate" you is to do so in order to sucker them in for what will then be an unanticipated - and likely devastating - counterattack.  Too bad it never happened.

The Ob-Gyn my ex-wife went to during her pregnancy:

http://www.manta.com/c/mtwbqsx/dr-harry-c-beaver-md

I used to nab a few extra business cards when we would visit just to prove I was not making it up.

It's as if they are treating the planet as though it were a giant gas station bathroom wall.

Did you ever go to a party, need to use the bathroom, then open a bedroom door by mistake and see something you weren't supposed to see?  That's how I felt when I clicked on the "Comments" button.

Carry on.

I would say it looks like Dick Morris in drag, but those are men's clothes.

Not to mention, "Muddy Waters, let play, becomes Blues".

(Yours is better.)

This is the only time I recall a University President being held personally liable for anything.

Fine work!

I don't like cats as much as I like dogs, but put enough Texas Pete on them and it's hard to tell the difference.