At CBS, the Eighth Deadly Word is "gays."

Mass. Lawmakers Block Gay Marriage Vote, Constitutional Amendment Would Have Let Voters Decide Whether To Ban Gay Marriage - CBS News: "Mass. Lawmakers Block Gay Marriage Vote"

Great story and all that, hurrah, triumph for civil liberties... but the REALLY funny part is that CBS is censoring the comments submitted by readers, and one of the words censored is "gays." Now, I was not aware that "gays" was deemed an offensive word. And it does rather make it awkward to write coherently about the right to gay marriage without, you know, THE FUCKING PLURAL FORM!

But I guess that's their objection, that if they DID allow the word "gays," somehow their readers would jump to the conclusion that The Grey Lady was approving of plural gay fucking within the sanctity of marriage.

However, as I pointed out in my own somewhat incoherent comment, designed to determine if self-censorship were at work, or if CBS was being bizarrely prudish.

um. What's this with censoring the words "gay" and "***?" If it's self-censorship, it's silly, if it's CBS, it's freakin' bizarre.

Well, we will see which it is after I punch the send button. Meanwhile, a wry observation that if marrage were to be officially linked to particular sexual practices, I doubt more than ten percent of the population WOULD be legally qualified to marry.

It's both bizarrely prudish and freakin' bizarre, so it's off to Fark and the Rude Pundit to help spread the gleeful mockery.

tag: CBS, prudes, prudery, gay marriage, bluenoses, bluestockings, the grey lady, prunefaces, Ms. Grundy, censorship, the eighth deadly word, blogswarm, blogmock, bizarre, funny, hilarity ensues

Oh, look, CBS noticed Ron Paul

A Texas Libertarian Starts To Make Waves - Public Eye

Paul, love him or hate him, articulates a coherent ideology better than many of his competitors – as the fact that he seems to inspire near pathological devotion in his followers. Look at the press coverage: The Washington Post profiled Paul's young campaign coordinator in New Hampshire; CNN.com today posted among its top stories a piece about how Paul's fans inundated the site after the recent presidential debate. He's even winning over Jon Stewart, who had Paul on the "Daily Show" and said to him, "[y]ou have accomplished no small feat, which is, you’re running for President, very much as an underdog, yet you’ve created a nice little buzz going about the Ron Paul candidacy."

Praised with faint damns, I see; CBS does not get it. Not the first time; as I recall they were blindsided by both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both who "came out of nowhere." Clearly CBS needs to expand it's definition of "somewhere."

Ron Paul's appeal is really, really simple: Real ideas and real answers for real questions and real issues. Paul does not dodge, deviate or triangulate. He has the same answer for the same question regardless of who's asking. Most importantly, he's a Libertarian, which means that his primary ethic is that government should not mess with other folks, whether they be foreign folk or domestic folk.

He's fiscally conservative and socially liberal, save for the issue of abortion - which he is personally against. However, he figures that whether or not YOU have an abortion is between you and your own conscience.

Frankly - and I think Republicans need to hear this - Ron Paul is the only person running as a republican who has enough broad-spectrum appeal to be honestly electable. Everyone else will be depending upon successful election fraud to win this thing.

tag: ron paul, MSM, CBS, election 2008, election fraud, libertarianism, electable, Republicans

CBS fires former general for speaking truth

MoveOn.org is supporting a petition drive to pressure CBS into re-hiring General John Batiste.

While I think CBS should offer him his job back, I'm not at all certain that returning to work there is appropriate to a man of his stature and dignity. When CBS clearly was more reluctant to dispose of Don Imus for racist remarks than the General for speaking truth to power, CBS declared itself to be on the Bushite side of reality, and no longer worthy of the mantle or privileges of the Fifth Estate.

There are far more worthy outlets for the General's words and I imagine that even now, many are making their wishes clear. He is of course, welcome here - but alas, I cannot pay him what he's worth. These days, military officers who understand their constitutional oaths are depressingly scarce - and like most of such officers, Batiste is not welcome in the military.

Perhaps the Great States of California, Kansas or the City of New York might be interested in acquiring his services to establish "well regulated militias" to fill in for the missing National Guard troops and equipment.

tag: General John Batiste, CBS, MoveOn.org, anti-bush video, Iraq War, Supporting the Troops, Constitution, first amendment, warnings