Burke's Joystick

As I watched (suffered through?) the Democrat National Convention, I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't watching a gathering of people expecting a November victory as much as I was watching what is sometimes referred to as an "Irish Wake" - that is, a raucous celebration during a time of mourning.  As with the biblical amalgamation "Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die", I had the distinct impression of people forcing themselves to be happy on the eve of a crushing defeat.  This feeling was only reinforced when there was that whole platform controversy that resulted in the following awkward moment for the party:

A tragedy and a travesty to report today: First, the tragedy:  Details are emerging about a 14-year old boy who had committed suicide last year in the UK.  As reported by The Telegraph , Callum Green hung himself with a school tie after claiming "he was being bullied at Audenshaw High School in Audenshaw, Manchester."  As I wrote in my piece on The Hunger Games , or as Pink Floyd satirized so long ago , the government-run school system, be it in America or the UK, is increasingly becoming a place of desperation, bullying, and lower and lower academic standards .  Tragic. Now the travesty: The results of the coroner's inquest have now been released and the results are...a joke?  Despite Green's girlfriend saying that "he wanted to run away from home and have a baby with her", and despite having a fight with his "mum" and being "grounded...for staying out late with his girlfriend the night before", and even de...

The above image is one I concocted for the 2008 Democrat National Convention.  At the time I wrote: I was going to write a blog entry on all the shenanigans going on at the DNC Convention. You know, the bald-faced lies; the radicalism; the Marxist rhetoric; the vicious verbal (and almost physical) assaults on some FOX News correspondents and conservative columnists; the consistent portrayal of America in the worst possible light by leftist demagogues; the Obama cult of personality; the Clinton cult of personality… well, you get the idea. But in keeping with the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, I decided just to post this pic.... Turns out I was right then.  Unfortunately, it looks like I am going to be right again, judging by the conga line of freaks (as The Great One would say) who are going to be headlining 2012's convention.  What has become of the party of Truman? In other news....

I confess to knowing next to nothing about The Hunger Games .  So when the movie was announced last year, and a subsequent wave of excitement swept across the internet, I was intrigued to say the least.  As I dug into it a little more and learned that the novel involved a futuristic death sport, I found myself becoming excited as well.  It's not because I am a sadist but because I am a gamer - that is what most games are about these days (but more on that later)!  So, I was also enthused...well, until the movie premiered and I started seeing things like this: Photo from:  http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/03/05/hunger-games-fan-event/ Screaming teenage girls and soccer moms are not exactly the first things I think of when the term "death sport" enters my mind.  I started to have serious misgivings....