Two parallel, connected, simultaneously-but-independently written rants are kludged up together here, rather than try to clean them all up and polish them into one long masterful MegaRant, since that didn't work so well last time.

The glories of our blood and state ( Read more... )

all you can do in response to specific criticisms, is to invoke Authority - be it of official credentials, or age, or popular acclaim, be it on one's own behalf or on the behalf of others being criticized - and never once to actually address the specific criticisms made, then you're not going to get very far with me ( Read more... )