Well, as you know from two posts down, I have my own objections to the use of “war” metaphors to frame the Deepwater response, although my major problem is with people who don’t realize they’re just metaphors.

Scheer, on the other hand, is simply writing his own bad porno and jacking off to it in this post. Not only does the “popping Gaia’s cherry” imagery do nothing but cloud an already-addled public perception of Hard Energy Realities with yet another useless layer of Teen Angst Poetry oversimplification, but attacking Obama for not using the Oval Office address to exhort Fat, Lazy, Greedy Americans to “look in the mirror” for the causes of the catastrophe is silly, disingenuous link-baiting at its worst.

Wow, that is really something. It appears that he came up with the term “rape and spillage,” thought it was genius, and then sloppily shoe-horned the concept into that horrible mess of a post.

Please tell me he’s being properly “spillaged” in the comments because I don’t have time to look.  Please.

I didn’t comb through the comments either, but the few I saw at the top seemed generally supportive. I guess they too were so blinded by the genius that is “Rape and Spillage” to critically unpack the implications.

Way too many one-issue environmentalists out there who are chafing because Obama does not grok their Victory-Through-Suicide model of Pyrrhic Presidenting.

Pretty fucking dumb, no doubt, but I still give the edge to the “OMG, he said people should pray for Gulf coast residents” line of thinking that I saw all over the place yesterday.

I am now convinced (I know, I’m a little slow on the uptake) that there is literally nothing the President can say that won’t be criticized by some idiot on the internet and some moran in the MSM, usually for the exact opposite reasons.  It would be funny if it weren’t so infuriating.

the “OMG, he said people should pray for Gulf coast residents” line of thinking

You did hear it in the context of the speech, right? Because it didn’t come off like the pro forma religious bullshit that has to cap off every presidential statement longer than “hi.” But hey, that’s always been my problem with the guy. Pandering to the superstitious I can handle; he actually means it.

deep in her pristine ocean where you have no business going

That’s the problem with hippie ecospeak; you start off trying to kick a little multinational corporate ass, next thing you know you’re making an argument against funding for marine biology expeditions.

Captcha word: “stop69.” Talk about a preemptive strike.

he actually means it.

Maybe. I’ve never gotten anything but your basic Agnostic star-child vibe off him. But I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean it as an admission that the Government has failed and now there’s nothing left to do but pray…which is the read-back I saw on the ODS sites.

he actually means it.

Whatever. It was in the context of the Blessing of the Fleet, which is a significant festival occasion in seagoing communities (few are more superstitious than seafarers), and a little God talk appears to go down well in some of the Gulf states. It’s not like he actually said that’s all that was left to do.

If it ruffled a few agnostic/atheist feathers, on this occasion—tough.

You did hear it in the context of the speech, right?

Yes, I did but it didn’t occur to me to analyze whether he meant it or not because it doesn’t matter to me.  I just figured he was trying to help people feel better.  Like when I go to wakes and the family members are really sad and even though I’m not a believer I tell them I’ll be praying for them.  I do it because they’re religious.  Now imagine some guy standing off to the side saying, “did you hear what he said, all that God bullshit?”  I’d want to knee him in the balls in the parking lot for never knowing when it’s not about him.

I’ve never gotten anything but your basic Agnostic star-child vibe off him.

Really? Uh… okay, but he’s put an awful lot of effort into disabusing you of that notion. I know he’s a walking rorschach test and whatnot but that’s the card that says THIS IS A BUTTERFLY.

Sorry, but it kinda blows my mind that you can read him that way. Christianity’s not too far behind pragmatic centrism on the list of things Obama overtly practices and gets accused of hiding/doing the opposite of.

Which is fine, obviously. Few things in this life piss me off as much as the online Colbert fans who refuse to accept the fact that their hero’s a devout Catholic. Take people at their word, that’s my motto, and frankly I don’t see what my Nerve.com dating profile has to do with it or why you’d see fit to bring that up at this juncture.

Now imagine some guy standing off to the side saying, “did you hear what he said, all that God bullshit?”

Done. Now imagine me lamenting the neverending encroachment of religiosity into the public sphere, not dissing a widow.

I’m thinking maybe you’re right about that “projection” thing, Gil. But if I’m this wrong about Obama, that must mean Bill Clinton was Archbishop of Arkansas and Ted Kennedy was the Pope.

God, I’ve missed so much.

I see prayer as a harmless activity, one of the few truly harmless activities to come out of religion. 

To me it’s no worse than crossing one’s fingers. 
It doesn’t have any affect but it makes the participant feel that they are helping somehow. 

Plus, I’ve heard that prayer, like chanting and meditation, can produce endorphins.  I’m a fan of endorphins.

Done. Now imagine me lamenting the neverending encroachment of religiosity into the public sphere, not dissing a widow.

Maybe later.  Right now I’m too busy having too much fun imaging you getting pissed off at online Colbert fans over his religious beliefs.

Well, I was being a wee bit tongue-in-cheek about where they fall on my personal hierarchy of things to get pissed off about, but as an avowed fan of the snotty dismissal, I’d be a hypocrite not to give kudos.