Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Imagine being so far out on the lunatic fringe that you think the Worldnutdaily isn't crazy enough. No, don't imagine it - just read the letters they get from readers. Reading the letters to the editor of the Worldnutdaily is truly enlightening. It's a constant struggle for dominance between stupidity and insanity. And once in a while you find one that even goes beyond that site's normal ratio of nuttiness. Like the first one, which takes the fake news outlet to task for -- get this -- referring to Obama as president:
Barack Obama is not president of the United States. He even lost his "president elect" status on Jan. 20, 2009. He is not "president" of anything.Neither you nor I have any reason to think that Obama is, was, or ever could be "president." Additionally, we have many reasons to explain that he neither was nor could ever be "president."
Every question of eligibility is answered with, "No, Obama never proved his eligibility."
No federal judge has declared, announced, or explained that Obama has, whether openly or secretly, met the qualifications stated by the Constitution...
The person, Barack, can be addressed with the same respect as any other federal criminal, "Mr. ..." or "Barack Obama."
Can you and would you please explain your reasoning?
Your other work is excellent; yet, your precariously calling Barack "president" stands out like an ugly skyscraper in a field of grain and smells of tyranny, usurpation and death every time I hear it.
And then there's this one, which endorses a Bachmann/Palin ticket in 2012:
I hope Bachmann and Palin are on the ticket in 2012. I'd vote for either one of them in a heartbeat.As for the communist/socialist libs, you can always tell how much they are scared of someone by how hard they attack them - another Saul Alinsky strategy.
Right. And the fact that the right is attacking Obama with a ferocity, and with the most ridiculous lies, proves.....what? This is projectile ironing.
Another gem:
I believe that you should recommend that everyone rent the movie, "Soylent Green" (1973) starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young and Joseph Cotton. This movie is a very depressing commentary on where government health care can lead. Everyone in America should watch this movie; it might wake a few people up.
But this one is my absolute favorite:
You know, the lawyers and academics that just happen to be running our country ought to think about whom they are messing with. Football fans, NASCAR types, deer hunters, rednecks, honkey tonk bar associations (thanks Garth Brooks) and just common Constitution-loving Americans outnumber them about 150,000 to one. In my opinion, it would be a wise thing for them to get "religion" quickly, or just resign, before these people get really ticked!
Yee haw!
Politics
Comments
Given the US estimated population (as at 2009) is 307,191,000.
Then there are approximately 2048 Liberals (307,191,000/150,001)!*
Don't ya all feel real special now? :) - DJ
_______
*According to that last Soooopeer Geeeniiuss
Posted by: DingoJack | August 20, 2009 9:48 AM
The last person's slack-jawed yokel:liberal ratio would explain a lot...
Posted by: schism | August 20, 2009 9:51 AM
I'd hate to see what'll happen if people start arguing over really divise issues, if assault-weapon-toting crazies come out in droves over trying to give more people adequate health care and improve a system that most professionals agree needs fixing.
Posted by: senor | August 20, 2009 9:56 AM
Don't you all thank ACORN for allowing all 2,048 US liberals to cast their Presidential votes approximately 33,917 times (69,456,897/2,048)!
*Whew* didn't we need a little lie down after all that voting action! :) - DJ
Posted by: DIngoJack | August 20, 2009 9:57 AM
I would have thought the film idiocracy would be closer to the future.
Soylent green would be far too high in saturated fat to ever be allowed on the market ;p
Posted by: Richard Eis | August 20, 2009 10:00 AM
Wow, I really thought I was joking when I said this 2 weeks ago:
"Honest to god, I really expect the next step in their insanity/deceit to be the soylent green joke we've been making around here."
http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2009/08/its_not_fascism_when_they_do_i.php#comment-1825533
Posted by: JohnV | August 20, 2009 10:07 AM
May I suggest that y'all Sokalize their letter section? I bet nothing is so dumb that they won't publish it.
Posted by: Guido | August 20, 2009 10:10 AM
Dont tell that last comment tht Garth Brooks is a regestered Democrat
Posted by: theroachman | August 20, 2009 10:10 AM
I'm calling Poe on the Soylent Green comment. An actual WND reader isn't cultured enough to be familiar with the movie.
It's pretty amazing that Barack and the other 2,047 liberals in this country were able to seize power from the over 300 million conservatives. We must be a hell of a lot smarter than they are.
Posted by: Brian Smith | August 20, 2009 10:15 AM
I know everyone is fond of using Solyent Green to caricature the far right on the end-of-life counseling issue. (And, evidently from that third letter, the right does not get that they're being caricatured)
But if you want to satirize the far right by comparing their fears about Obama to old sci-fi movies, Logan's Run is the better choice. Obama wants to kill you at 40 - check. Added bonus satire: Obama wants to bring on communism - check; Obama wants to put a gem in your hand to monitor you. Mark of the Beast! Antichrist! - check.
I submit to you then, that comparisons to Logan's Run provides satire on three far right claims where references to Solyent only satirizes one. :)
Posted by: eric | August 20, 2009 10:21 AM
... ought to think about whom they are messing with. Football fans, NASCAR types, deer hunters, rednecks, honkey tonk bar associations ...
I think he could make his imaginary army appear a lot more impressive by being a lot less specific about it.
Posted by: Phillip IV | August 20, 2009 10:25 AM
Sheeet, this type of rhetoric is standard issue in the new local newspapers' Letter's section that I read.
Posted by: Michael Heath | August 20, 2009 10:25 AM
Although I'm too scared to follow many of the links, eric, it seems like the logan's run comparison is making the rounds amongst the reactionaries :P
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=obama+logan%27s+run&fr=yfp-t-101&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
Posted by: JohnV | August 20, 2009 10:27 AM
You're a very brave person for venturing into that mess to find this stuff. However, I am tempted to believe that at least some of these letters just have to be joke.
Posted by: catgirl | August 20, 2009 10:37 AM
This passage in 1 Timothy Chapter 2 of the Bible seems particularly appropriate. I also quote the rest of the chapter for its sheer entertainment value and relatedness to Ed's Mencken blog post, though our lady readers might not find it so funny. It also is evidence of the type of cafeteria Christianity that we expect out of the GOP base in regards to women having authority over men - Not:
What was that about Bachmann & Palin as great presidential candidates?
Posted by: Michael Heath | August 20, 2009 10:43 AM
Heard a caller mention Logan's Run yesterday
on talk radio, so I assumed it was a new meme. Another
one I heard: neo-Malthusian. Is this from Rush,
anybody know?
Posted by: Fletcher | August 20, 2009 11:44 AM
Wow, so sci-fi movies from the seventies are the big thing in wingnuttia analogy land? Can I play, too?
I think things are looking more "Rollerball" every day, although the truth is probably going to shake out more in the vein of "Damnation Alley" when all is said and done.
Damn you Obama, and your giant killer cockroaches!!11!
Posted by: Rick R | August 20, 2009 11:44 AM
I just mentioned the Logan's Run parallells to someone at work yesterday. Weird.
Posted by: Ranson | August 20, 2009 11:47 AM
It's strange they recommend Soylent Green. All the problems in the movie are caused by global warming and perhaps also ozone layer decay
Posted by: Bacopa | August 20, 2009 11:58 AM
Let's not forget that classic: "A Boy and His Dog. A slightly kinky tale of survival."*
The subtitle seems to fit the Republicans like a glove! :) - DJ
_________
*From a short story by Harlan Ellison, I believe.
Posted by: DingoJack | August 20, 2009 12:02 PM
"projectile iron[y]"
I think that and "projectile hypocrisy" are the terms we've been looking for to describe acts like Farah complaining about Obama "demonizing political opponents" in the middle of comparing the President to Hitler.
I'll give you an acknowlegement (at least once) when I use it.
Posted by: John Pieret | August 20, 2009 12:13 PM
I'm sad to say, but I have met conservatives who have seen Soylent Green, and did consider it prophetic. And this was nearly 10 years ago. =(
And second, the person citing the 150,000 to 1 ratio is a perfect example of how these people view themselves. Having been born in Lousyanna, then living for fifteen years in Misery, I've known far more "good, simple, working-class folk" than can be good for my mental health. Their worlds are so small, that yes... everyone IS just like them. Because their world ends at the county line (for the more adventurous. I've met some people who were proud of the fact that they'd spent their whole lives in the town where they were born, having never even visited anywhere else.)
Of course, our government system doesn't do anything to discourage this, when states like Wyoming and North Dakota (.0038 of the total population) have as much say in the Senate as California or New York (.1851 of the total population).
Posted by: David | August 20, 2009 12:22 PM
Rick, I find it almost quaint now that, in "Rollerball," the corporations took on responsibility for social welfare when they grabbed power. Ah, those innocent 70's ....
Posted by: Scott Hanley | August 20, 2009 12:26 PM
"God is an Iron" anyone? :) - DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | August 20, 2009 12:28 PM
@19
I'm sure the far right thinks that any global warming in the Solyent Green-Obama future can be solved with a bit of Silent Running.
Posted by: eric | August 20, 2009 12:30 PM
"It's strange they recommend Soylent Green. All the problems in the movie are caused by global warming and perhaps also ozone layer decay"
Not to mention the obvious end product of abstinence-only sex ed.
Posted by: Rick R | August 20, 2009 12:45 PM
"I hope Bachmann and Palin are on the ticket in 2012..."
Oh. your. God. How does one help make this happen? Is there a petition somewhere to sign?
"I believe that you should recommend that everyone rent the movie, "Soylent Green" (1973) starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young and Joseph Cotton. This movie is a very depressing commentary on where government health care can lead. Everyone in America should watch this movie; it might wake a few people up."
Wow. Just. WOW. Talk about completely missing the point. In what fucking sideways bizarro world does Soylent Green become a commentary on gov't health care? There aren't even any death panels in that movie for Chissakes!!!*
*Edward G. Robinson's character voluntarily ends his life.
Posted by: n | August 20, 2009 12:53 PM
I think Obama should start driving around in this-
http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/landmaster/
How awesome would it be to have a President with this rig? Obama would be, like, totally badass.
Posted by: Rick R | August 20, 2009 12:57 PM
"In what fucking sideways bizarro world does Soylent Green become a commentary on gov't health care?"
Yeah, they also conveniently ignore (or just didn't get) the social commentary about the enormity of the poor/ rich divide, with only the wealthiest corporate elite able to afford things like strawberries and a slice of red meat, with streets teeming with poor homeless millions. Teabaggers, probably.
Posted by: Rick R | August 20, 2009 1:06 PM
You all have it wrong. The 1970s dystopic future Obama is forcing upon us is totally Zardoz. They've even already made the giant stone Obama head we're all supposed to worship! Of course, instead of it spitting out guns to purify the Earth of the filth of Brutals, the giant Obama head will spit out living wills to euthanized the elderly.
Posted by: jpf | August 20, 2009 1:11 PM
Please, please, don't let anyone compare the future to Xanadu... (Please! *whimper*)
Posted by: Umlud | August 20, 2009 1:18 PM
Well, I don't know about you Umlud, but the soundtrack to MY future is totally ELO.
Posted by: Rick R | August 20, 2009 1:21 PM
Soylent green would be far too high in saturated fat to ever be allowed on the market ;p
Seriously, given how many Americans are overweight now, it would be more like Soylent Grease.
Posted by: Adrienne | August 20, 2009 1:26 PM
"In what fucking sideways bizarro world does Soylent Green become a commentary on gov't health care?"
The same one in which Obama is equivalent to Hitler/Stalin (take your pick), having access to health care is murder, and giving people broader options is taking away their rights. Some might call it Oceania, circa 1984. On a tangential note, why was I previously under the impression that Soylent Green was a '50s flick instead of a '70s flick (a Google search confirmed the WND commenter)?
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | August 20, 2009 1:28 PM
I'm really hoping some of those letters are Poes.
Posted by: Adrienne | August 20, 2009 1:29 PM
"it would be more like Soylent Grease."
OMFG!! Like, I can totally see this!! Get John and Olivia on the phone!!!
Posted by: Rick R | August 20, 2009 1:57 PM
hey...this soylent green i'm eating...IT'S PEOPLE!!!!
Posted by: rob | August 20, 2009 2:04 PM
DJ @20,
A Boy and His Dog is one of my favs. The underground society is definitely republican with a vengeance. Lots of robot enforcers that remind me of the town hall protesters all saying the same things without any understanding of the meaning of their words.
Posted by: MikeMa | August 20, 2009 2:32 PM
RickR @ 17
Damnation Alley! Yes!! A Jan-Michael Vincent retrospective!
Actually, for anyone who read the book (like me), the main character was a Hell's Angel and for the life of me, I cannot picture Farah's Boyz as one of them...
Posted by: Pineyman | August 20, 2009 2:32 PM
I saw "A Boy And His Dog" on a twin bill with "Slaughterhouse 5" at the Falmouth drive in on Cape Cod. The woman I was with had no idea what either movie was about; it's okay, she liked me and knew what I was about.
Posted by: democommie | August 20, 2009 2:55 PM
Damnation Alley. Ah, the memories! Not so much of the movie, but the vehicle itself lived out the rest of its life on a hill overlooking the top of the Hollywood Freeway, and I passed it frequently in the days when I lived down there.
Plenty more dystopian movies one could appeal to. THX1138. 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 of course. In fact, I do not think there were any optimistic SF movies from that era.
Posted by: Gray Gaffer | August 20, 2009 3:25 PM
Looked at the right way, "The Poseidon Adventure" is totally a commie atheist pinkofag piece of left-wing nazi propaganda.
Posted by: Rick R | August 20, 2009 3:42 PM
I'm Canadian , but lived in san Diego for a number of wonderful years. I'd like to let ya'll know that in parts of Canada we have folks who are just as enlightened as anyone from rural Tennessee. Some even have electricity & indoor plumbing.They will rightly remind you that any doubts about humans & dinosaurs living together are immediately dispelled when reference is made to Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble. So , there !! but , you must admit that it has to be very difficult for people to believe in evolution ; who are not themselves yet fully evolved. ( I'm almost positive I once saw Moses holding the Ten Commandmants , in a puddle of tobacco spit.And I could hear thunder in the distance , coming from the direction of I-5 , near Fullerton. God works in Republican ways .)
Posted by: H. (Bart) Vincelette | August 20, 2009 3:54 PM
Soylent Green? Logan's Run? It could be worse, you know.
My fear is that some yokel will start comparing the Obama future to Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.
Posted by: Michael Hoaglin | August 20, 2009 4:56 PM
Ed, you gotta watch out, flinging those steam irons about! (Your comment starting with "Right.") ;)
Posted by: Bob Carroll | August 20, 2009 6:07 PM
In close to the best of all possible worlds, it would turn out that WingNutDaily was a complete Poe.
A wingnut organization, infiltrated and eventually taken over by Poes, catering to an audience which over time is dominated by if not entirely Poes, for the entertainment of the rest of us.
Then I think of Chuck Norris and my heart sinks.
Posted by: Uncle Glenny | August 20, 2009 6:20 PM
Teh Stoopid, it burns.
Posted by: Buffy | August 20, 2009 6:28 PM
Uncle Glenny @ 46:
Actually what's scary if WND was outed as a Poe is that it wouldn't matter, all their regular readers would still believe all the swill they spewed. They'd probably figure out some way to convince themselves it's even more true than they originally bought it, kind of like YECS and denialists sinking even deeper by adding birfers and deafers to their list of attributes.
Posted by: Michael Heath | August 20, 2009 7:38 PM
@48: "Actually what's scary if WND was outed as a Poe is that it wouldn't matter, all their regular readers would still believe all the swill they spewed"
Stephen Colbert, arch-Poe extraordinaire, has already proved that hypothesis. And continues to do so to this day.
Posted by: Gray Gaffer | August 20, 2009 8:17 PM
From one of the wackynut letters quoted in the opening post:
No federal judge has declared, announced, or explained that Obama has, whether openly or secretly, met the qualifications stated by the Constitution...
Remind me again: wasn't it only recently that "true conservatives" were railing against those unelected judges who had the temerity to overrule the wishes expressed by the majority of the voters?
Posted by: Chiroptera | August 20, 2009 9:14 PM
I'm suprised no-one mentioned what is considered to be the finest SF film ever, "Bladerunner".
Robots running amok in world totally without animals and with a near unbreakable atmosphere because humans have polluted it to death.
On second thoughts, probably closer to Al Gore's dystopia than any Republican's. :) - DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | August 21, 2009 3:55 AM
Oh and....
"IT'S A COOKBOOK!!" - DJ [running off in screaming panic]
__________________________
PS: I wonder if the Republican's aren't basing thier policies on a combination of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians".
Posted by: DingoJack | August 21, 2009 4:02 AM
As for the communist/socialist libs, you can always tell how much they are scared of someone by how hard they attack them - another Saul Alinsky strategy.
Ed's already pointed out the obvious hypocrisy here with regards to WND's constant attacks on Obama - sorry, President Obama - but I have to ask, why do they keep saying "scared" like it immediately disqualifies your opinion?
This seems to be another right-wing meme going around, because I've lost count of the amount of Republicans who've said the left only attack Palin because they're scared of her. Well, yeah, I suppose the possibility that a spite-filled congenial liar with the IQ of a shoe could have been President is pretty scary. And?
Posted by: Der Bruno Stroszek | August 21, 2009 4:02 AM
Funny you bring up "Blade Runner" on a thread that talks about "Soylent Green".
"Blade Runner" is a full on great movie, and deserves its place in film history. But I recently watched "Soylent Green" and was pleasantly surprised by how well it held up overall. It's a smart, taut sci-fi thriller that compares favorably to BR. They have a lot in common, and would make a good double feature.
Posted by: Rick R | August 21, 2009 4:02 AM
Der Bruno Stroszek, it's projection. Sometimes on purpose to disarm being called out on what they're doing, other times I suspect it's subconscious. That's how you get Gingrich going on TV and saying,
"Think about a party whose last stand is to frighten 85-year-olds, and you'll understand how totally morally bankrupt the modern Democratic Party is,"
This coming from the party of Death Panels. If the American right accuses somebody they don't like of doing something, chances are they're doing it themselves.
Posted by: tincture | August 21, 2009 4:17 AM
And we're back to kettleblindness.
And how about a version of The Omega Man caused by evil socialist doctors?
Posted by: Ramel | August 21, 2009 4:24 AM
"And how about a version of The Omega Man caused by evil socialist doctors?"
Heh. Substitute Communist for Socialist, and that is the actual plot of the movie.
(Russia and China go to war, unleashing germ warfare which decimates the world population. Duh. Didn't they think that germs could cross borders?)
Posted by: Rick R | August 21, 2009 4:33 AM
True enough, and you also get the ultimate reich-wing nightmare: Something happens that makes everyone the same colour! And nobody buys stuff!
Posted by: Ramel | August 21, 2009 4:54 AM
Sadie Morrinson -
I'm not sure why you would have thought it was a fifties movie, considering the novel was written in the mid-sixties. Ironically, Harrison's novel about overpopulation was at least somewhat inspired by his own contribution to the population...
Posted by: DuWayne | August 21, 2009 9:14 AM
Ramel @58:
...you also get the ultimate reich-wing nightmare: Something happens that makes everyone the same colour! And nobody buys stuff!
You forgot to add: And there's world peace!
Posted by: Adrienne | August 21, 2009 9:31 AM
Only because almost everyone is dead, the rapture readys would call that the up side.
Posted by: Ramel | August 21, 2009 9:34 AM
One of the delusions held by "The Family" in that movie is that they are on a divine mission to purge the world of, among other things, the remnants of science and technology. All the evil, forbidden things. They call Neville a "creature of the wheel".
I'll leave the analogies to y'all.
Posted by: Rick R | August 21, 2009 9:38 AM
The wheality based comunity? I thought that was Buffy fans...
Posted by: Ramel | August 21, 2009 9:40 AM
Watching these people, or reading their rants, is alternately hilarious and disheartening.
I recommend reading C.M. Kornbluth's
"The Marching Morons" (1951) @ http://www.wattpad.com/111513-Th...M-Kornbluth? p=1
Which includes this Palinesque line:
"the broadcast drama about you and your neighbors, folksy people, ordinary people, real people!"
useful idiots, indeed.
Posted by: democommie | August 21, 2009 10:04 AM
Everyone should rent Soylent Green and watch it - a very depressing commentary on where pro-life, rabid fertility worshipping anti-health care, global climate change denialism will lead us!
Posted by: Kristine | August 21, 2009 2:51 PM
Nobody mentions the wingnut favorite "Red Dawn"?
Posted by: Badger3k | August 21, 2009 3:51 PM
Hey, a Bachman/Palin ticket would be great -Obama would have no problem to get the vote of the moderate/normal conservatives....and the liberal/left vote anyway...
Posted by: Heinrich | August 21, 2009 7:56 PM
Ed, do you possibly happen to have a picture of the actual letter this was transcribed from? I meant the *actual* Piggly Wiggly bag, written in crayon?
And as others have opined, on the possibility of a Palin/Bachman ticket *Oh please, Oh please* I might even confess to a small prayer in that direction...
Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | August 21, 2009 10:03 PM
Pineyman at #39:
That actually sounds more like Steve Wilson's The Lost Traveller, a "Motorcycle Grail Quest Epic and Science Fiction Western" set in a post-apocalyptic but not completely dystopian future.
A rather good read, actually. I first read it maybe thirty years ago, and it still holds up.
Posted by: North of 49 | August 22, 2009 1:21 PM
For lack of a better, less crude term: "Most people are retarded." - And that isn't far off base. Rationality and common sense is an extremely rare commodity these days. We are still about fifty years behind where we probably should be. As people, too much reality television and general apathy has warped us beyond recognition. This species is doomed to rot in its own ignorance. It's too late for any of us, now.
Posted by: Captin Goodwine | August 24, 2009 1:37 AM
"Nobody mentions the wingnut favorite "Red Dawn"?"
I was raised to avoid discussing porn in polite company.
Posted by: Rick R | August 24, 2009 4:55 AM