AH, DAVID:

"I've never understood people who take the Bible literally and the constitution loosely."

he says, in reference to this. Obviously, our dear boy is familiar with neither Federalist 78 nor Andrew Jackson's views on where the right to interpret laws resides (to say nothing of his Jeffersonian slant on the reading of the first amendment, which forthrightly pretends as if opposition to that view doesn't exist). I suppose he would argue, then, that it would've been wrong to oppose the Fugitive Slave Law because the Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scot that it was perfectly legal.

QUOTE: It's not the OED, but that's down, so this will have to do for now:

"Main Entry: ap·pall
Variant(s): also ap·pal /&-'pol/
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): ap·palled; ap·pall·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French apalir, from Old French, from a- (from Latin ad-) + palir to grow pale, from Latin pallescere, inchoative of pallEre to be pale -- more at FALLOW
Date: 14th century
intransitive senses obsolete : WEAKEN, FAIL
transitive senses : to overcome with consternation, shock, or dismay
synonym see DISMAY"

how did I survive the great blackout of aught-three?

it was a rough 24 hours with no internet access, let me tell you, but I, exemplifying the great spirit of Midlanders, got through it as best I could-- by watching TV, turning on my air conditioner to beat the heat, grabbing food from the refridgerator whenever I was hungry, and, of course, keeping myself well hydrated with plenty of clean, fresh water straight from the tap.

it was a time of crisis, indeed

HAHA: Even if you're unfamiliar with Ann Coulter, you should be able to get the joke about kittens.

QUOTE: Marty Peretz, in The New Republic, on some of the unusual consequences of the war in Iraq:

"America's relationship with Germany is also being refreshed after the Iraq war. Berlin's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, has made it clear to everyone who will listen that, despite Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's personal animosity to the Bush administration, Germany is not about to join France in a doomed anti-American cabal. Both the Fischer wing of the government and the Christian Democratic opposition yearn to reestablish the historic alliance that made Germany a democracy and a trusted member of the Western coalition. Germany's rite of passage came when it participated confidently and unapologetically in the humanitarian use of military power to defend Kosovo against a lesser Saddam. Don't count Germany on the other side. Nor Japan, which will send 1,000 combat engineers to Iraq, the first deployment of its forces anywhere in 58 years, accomplished without sanction from the United Nations or assent from China."

QUOTE: From Hitch, on Bob Hope, saying what I've been thinking for the past week:

"Quick, then—what is your favorite Bob Hope gag? It wouldn't take you long if I challenged you on Milton Berle, or Woody Allen, or John Cleese, or even (for the older customers) Lenny Bruce or Mort Sahl. By this time tomorrow, I bet you haven't come up with a real joke for which Hope could take credit."