Thursday, January 23, 2014

Oh, and another thing. . .

Getting back to Downton Abbey and my defense thereof. . .

 


In Daniel D'Addario's un-called for hit piece, he refers to Lady Sybil's death as her punishment for having married below her station. He also claims that the show seems determined to prop up Lord Grantham as a wise patriarch. He is, of course, wrong on both counts.

Lady Sybil dies because Lord Grantham, who is always portrayed as a rather foolish old man, unable to cope with the changing modern world, refuses to listen to the simple country doctor who has treated Sybil since infancy. Instead, he sides with the more prestigious Sir Philip, who turns out to be tragically wrong. Lord Grantham, wedded to the old class system, insists that the doctor from the upper caste, the man with the title, must be right, even when Cora recognizes how wrong he is, and begs Lord Grantham to listen to Doctor Clarkson.

So Lady Sybil dies, not as punishment for her betrayal of the class system, but because of Lord Grantham's fealty to it. Clinging to the class system cost Lord Grantham his daughter, not exactly a ringing endorsement of the class system.

Crazy Candidate of the Day

Today's crazy candidate:  Illinois' Susanne Atanus.





She looks pleasant enough. . .

Like most candidates, Susanne has a website.
According to ABC, it is  www.atanusforuscongress.com
If you click on the link to her website, you get this:


Atanusforuscongress.com

Related Links





So, that's pretty promising!

Although, it's probably better that her real website doesn't come up, because then you might get your brain assaulted by shit like this:

Chicago GOP hopeful: Autism and dementia are God’s punishments for LGBT rights





Yeah, apparently she is!

Candidate Susanne Atanus believes that autism and forms of dementia are punishments sent by God because of the growing support for marriage equality in the country and the prevalence of abortion.



Because no one ever suffered from dementia before Roe?

“I am a conservative Republican and I believe in God first,” Atanus said at an endorsement session with the Daily Herald on Monday. God controls the weather, she said, and tornadoes are evidence of his wrath.


Which is why they always hit those atheist strongholds like Kansas and Oklahoma! You never see a tornado spinning down Castro Street, or knocking down Planned Parenthood Headquarters.

“God is angry. We are provoking him with abortions and same-sex marriage and civil unions,” she said. “Same-sex activity is going to increase AIDS. If it’s in our military it will weaken our military. We need to respect God.”



If elected, Atanus is expected to propose throwing virgins into volcanoes to appease the fire gods and poking pins into dolls made to look like our geopolitical enemies.