Opinions are Like Something or Other that Everyone's Got One Of

Pure Halletry, that type of blogging which primarily concerns itself with commenting on stuff found in traditional media sources, along with meta-Halletry, that being blogging about people commenting about stuff they read in print media:

1. It is harmful if the word “plagiarism” follows him through life, Griffith said.

   “In this day and age, a charge like this, it hangs around,” he said. “The point of the lawsuit is to set the record straight. This is not about money.”

   ...Umm, Mr. Acosta, you don't get to be valedictorian by being an idiot, so you should weigh the opinion of your lawyer against another, albeit unsolicited opinion, that "repentant plagiarist" is a much better label to have follow you than "lying, whiny, unrepentant, and frivolously litigious plagiarist," which is pretty likely to attach itself at this point regardless of the outcome of your suit.

2. 'Due process of law for terrorists is an irrational concept, adoption of which would do nothing more than reinforce the worldwide perception that the U.S. is weak, irresolute, and ready and willing to permit the slaughter of its citizens to promote a nebulous image of "fairness". '

   Add William J. Davidek to the list of terrorists who should be attacked by vigilantes for his plans to kill your children.

   
   

3. From the same batch of 'web-only' letters comes this gem:
   

   I can't help regarding Mr Obama as the "affirmative action" candidate, and I'm not speaking of the exceptional educational opportunities afforded him, but rather the way he was selected by the media, MoveOn.org and others from the American Left to head their movement.

   Clearly there are many more qualified Dems, including Hillary, to lead the Executive branch of our government, but the thought of a "clean, articulate...African-American".... [Joe Biden] was just too hard to resist. The result is a candidate with zero national security experience, who doesn't know what he doesn't know...affirmative action at its' worse.

   Anyone who has worked for a major US corporation has seen the result of an early promotion to meet a racial quota, and it isn't fair to either the "promoted" or to those that must suffer the consequences....but Obama's early promotion promises much more serious long term impacts.

   It's actually a disservice to y'all if I highlight just some of the ignorance here at the expense of shifting attention away from the rest, so I'll let you chew on it yourself. As for me, I have to admit that I'm glad that our history of only nominating women for president has come to an end now that we've found a minimally qualified man to fill our nominee gender quota.

4. "What H of the 4-H has anything to do with beer?" Nelson said. "You have city kids coming to the fair to see a hog and they will see people bellowing at a beer garden instead. What's next? Mud wrestling?"

   I must admit, I was a bit puzzled by this comment regarding the Union County Fair, as I have certainly consumed my fair share of beer, but I have never been any closer to mud-wrestling than seeing it portrayed in those 1980's comedies that show up on weekend-afternoon basic cable. Then I realized that I wasn't connecting the dots correctly. Sheriff Nelson meant: City Kids + Beer + Hogs = Drunk City Kids Wrestling Hogs in Mud, While Onlookers Shake Fists and Bellow at Beer Garden. What's a shame is that were I to for some reason attend the Union County Fair, I'd probably be in the beer tent, missing out on all the entertainment.

5. "The president, Congress, no one can touch it. The Federal Reserve is not federal at all; it's owned by private stockholders. There is no reserve because it was intended to create money instead of holding gold in reserve. Those federal notes in your pocket are redeemable in nothing."

   Mr. John D. Harmer of Columbus, Ohio raises an interesting point, one I'm sure these gentlemen flying the black helicopters around Columbus would love to discuss with him. We would love for him to help us shed some light on the subject.

Just another shopping day in the marketplace of ideas.