Progress deplores timewasting in the office as much as the next political education trust. Of course the internet should only be used for the political research necessary to sharpen one’s head to a fine point. Shame on those who use this smorgasbord, this cornucopia of fact and informed opinion for buying cheap cds or looking for cheap gags.
Therefore, to better encourage the proper attitude of high-seriousness towards the world wide web, the Progress Report is giving you this one off special: a list of edifying and improving weblinks.
Amazingly there are people across the Atlantic who make Michael Howard look cuddly. Shrillest among the shrill, chief among the conservative commentators is Ann Coulter. You can check out her full archive here: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/archive.shtml
Her main thesis is simple: traitorous liberals have taken over America and use their vast power to smear simple conservatives with dishonest lies and invective. How this squares with her own massive success and frequent airtime; a Republican President and Congress; and her astonishing rudeness towards Democrats is a mystery to us. Perhaps you will be able to work it out. Anyway check out her attempts to rehabilitate Senator Joe ‘reds under the bed’ McCarthy and the invitation to invade Muslim countries and forcibly convert all the inhabitants to Christianity. It makes A Certain TV presenter seem pretty tame.
Finally, if you fall under Ms Coulter’s spell you can order an Ann Coulter talking doll: http://www.utoypia.com/products.php?Name=TalkingPresidents&sort=Most-Popular
- or of course a ‘W’ one. But remember only the Ann Coulter doll will say ‘Why not go to war just for oil…’
No one could match Ann for vitriol but Melanie Phillips combines a fine line in anger with true prolixity. Check out her weblog: http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/
Three, even four times a day an event crosses her radar that forces out an explosion of pure moral outrage: o tempora, o mores! (see: http://www.sacklunch.net/Latin/O/otemporaomores.html)
There are other people who flicker between utter conviction and parody – can they be real? What motivates these unresting moral crusaders? Maurice Bessinger devotes his life to the twin causes of barbeque sauce and revivifying confederate ideals: http://www.mauricesbbq.com/
Check out the sublimely named ‘politics and barbeque’ section. This fine site will even play you The Battle Hymn of the Republic as you read his political views – the red flag to follow here.
If you don’t know it yet it’s worth looking at the father figure of vicious, scabrous, lampooning sites: http://www.whitehouse.org/.
The Ronald Reagan memory game in the children’s section is particularly wicked – the letters from real outraged readers are even more inspired than any of the satire.
Is this site satire too, or a legitimate place to buy that elusive present for the policy advisor who has everything? http://www.cafeshops.com/blair2004
Sometimes satire is unnecessary. The full horror of state execution is brought home better by the detail of what prisoners order for their last meals. http://www.adc.state.az.us/DeathRow/DeathPenaltyHistory.htm#LAST%20MEAL
Now you may ask yourself who would want to read about last meals? Well that’s nothing. The state of Texas is just about to put out a recipe book build up from last meals. Milk shake and fries to go, please.
Here, is a quality site devoted to fact checking and shooting down hyperbole, cant and manufactured outrage on all sides. Ann Coulter gets hit just as hard as Michael Moore. http://www.spinsanity.com/
Finally, sometimes you just have to stop your jibber-jabber and tell a crazy fool where to get off. Here you can find Mr T, in his post A -team days, taking on Ann Coulter (and a certain Tony Blair): http://www.mrtvseverything.com/MrTvs.html