Come on, you are wasting everyone’s time, money and energy on your lack of consideration for others. That’s pretty damn narcissistic if you ask me.

Why can’t people be more like animals? I mean, you can’t get any more honest than that.

“Yes, I certainly DID eat all of your Oreos. They are my favorite, and you try eating dry dog food everyday. Don’t even bother blaming me for the piles of plastic wrapper filled dog poop on the carpet. You should have taken them out of the bag for me.”

“Yes I did use someone else’s ideas, time, energy, words, etc. for my own benefit. That is just because I’m extraordinarily selfish, lazy, and only concerned with the advancement of myself. I only did it because, as you all know, I couldn’t string two sentences together if my life depended on it.”

Now wouldn’t that be refreshing. We could just call them what they are rather than sit and stew while they desperately try to get away with whatever they are accused of.

At least the California ones will.

It’s Alison Bechdel, with a “d.”

She’s great! I’m glad you like her too.

You know, its such a dumb statement I should think even the staunchest conservate must have cringed.

Human grief and the pain of bereavement are not within that category. They are universal emotions that transcend all the customs, rules and regulations that we create in order to run our communities. We should respect grief because we are all human beings. Even if the mourner weeps for a person whom we regard as wicked or depraved, his or her sorrow is sacrosanct, because it is part of the universal human condition, and has no connection with creeds and politics.

Indeed, the ability to break that universal human taboo against attacking or belittling private grief is one of the traits that a murderer must possess. Lack of sympathy and respect for the pain of bereavement is a psychopathic trait.

George Carlin is a very smart and very funny man. I think he didn’t rip Ann a new one (and he could, quite easily) because he didn’t want to give her any more publicity.

While I hadn’t really thought of it in this way before now, I’m also in kind of a “what if” position in relation to 9/11. My spouse, who had previously worked in the World Trade Center, had a job interview scheduled for shortly after the attacks with another company there. Had things worked out differently in either of those situations, I believe I would be feeling homicidal about now; as it is, I am renewed in my thanks that he was spared.

It’s hard to know what to do about Coulter and her ilk. In theory, I agree with those who prescribe ignoring them as the best way to (not) respond, and I tend to avoid both right-wing blather, which would just make me upset, and left-wing blather, because really, who has time? But when the blatherers take inattention as an invitation to increase the level of vicious, hateful commentary in their writing to the point where they cross into the realm of unacceptable behavior, what can one do? I have a feeling that any response is a good response to people like that, and the content of the response becomes completely irrelevant.

I actually came back to this post for a different reason– I stopped at Alison Bechdel’s site to see if she’d posted a new “Dykes to Watch Out For” strip (she hadn’t– and after reading the book tour commentary in the “He wrote, She wrote” blog I should have known better than to hope otherwise), and she was reporting that Fun Home has sold out and they’ll have to print more. In this case, a good book will out.

I am not American, I had never heard of Ann Coulter, and I do not propose to air my political views here, but I really have to comment on this rather flippant remark. Anyone who ‘picked on’ those one or two paragraphs was right to do so.

There are certain international, non-political, purely human rules of conduct and courtesy. One does not sneer at or belittle the feelings of people who have lost a loved one to murder, and whatever the details of this book, I should say that even one word, let alone ‘one or two paragraphs’ of criticism of any person whose spouse, partner, parent or child died in the 2001 atrocity, or any other terrorist outrage, is deeply offensive. Some of the widows may indeed be people who are not, in themselves, estimable human beings, but that is totally irrelevant.

We are just coming up to the first anniversary of the July 7 London bombings. My husband and I travel after 9 am, so we were about 15 minutes too late to have been on the Piccadilly Line train that was blown up. If my husband had been on that train, had been one of the 26 who died, or the scores who were horribly injured, losing limbs, and if anyone now accused me of ‘whining’ about any aspect at all of the aftermath, I know how I should feel.

Whatever the woman Coulter’s views, however allegedly admirable her research, if she actually spoke slightingly of people who were bereaved in the 2001 attack, then she does not deserve to be defended.

Ann Coulter – more blah blah blah (my, how these people do like to here themselves talk). Though if she did say that about the 9/11 widows, one paragaph or one page makes no difference, then she deserves what she gets.

Plaigarism…you mention the idiot college student who thought she could get away with those pages, but then Ward Churchill (formerly of CU:D) managed to get quite a ways up in his chosen field by blatant plaigarism and years of it. Why dwouldn’t the student think she could get away with it? He made his whole bloody career on it!

and boy, do I agree with you about not being able to find books at the bookstore. I’ve gone in there looking for your books and had to chase down a clerk to find them along with some of my other favorite authors.

The best comment I saw was in a letter to the L.A. Times…this writer wondered if that Al-Zarkawi guy was looking forward to 70 Ann Coulters in heaven.

I don’t wanna tell you where I found Christopher Hitchen’s book on Mother Teresa shelved…maybe you can guess if you know the title (The Missionary Position)

Funny–I’ve just done a post on my blog about preserving freedom of speech–must go add that is only if the person isn’t spouting complete bull.

Plagerists. Idiots. Stupid and annoying and bad people.

Phew, glad I got that off my chest

Who is Ann Coulter? I guess I should thank my lucky stars that I don’t know. Widows enjoying themselves huh? Who would have thought?

Sorry to hear you’ve had so much to be displeased about Jenny. I hope life in general brings a smile back to you soon.

and soapboxes. we’re on them all the time. not to worry. welcome, and don’t forget to check out Jenny’s other sites (yes, shameless promotor).

anon: thanks for telling us about “The Sociopath Next Door”. sounds interesting.