Pubic hair is free speech!

Plus: Sayonara, Kyoto; President Bush, "bought and paid for"

Published March 28, 2001 6:47PM (EST)

Anger management
Today's Salon.com story about an anti-Bush protest has raised the thermostat in the conservative chat rooms. The protest seems innocent enough, if a little grotesque: Shave your pubic hair, put it in a little plastic bag and send it to her in the mail (anonymously, please). Her rallying cry? "No Bush! -- It's not yours, it's mine," says San Francisco art student Jackie Sumell.

So it may not be the March on Washington. But the reaction to the protest has uncorked the conservative ire over at Lucianne.com.

"Once again, Maha Rushie is right, as usual. The left gets goofier, weirder and funnier when they're out of power," writes one."

"Campaign finance reform: Money = not free speech. Pubic hair = free speech. Glad we're getting this all sorted out," writes another.

Still another poster chimes in: "PETA is protesting the treatment of soon-to-be-homeless crabs."

Weblines

Drudge Report: "Ted Turner Lashes Out at 'Bought and Paid for' Bush"
SmirkingChimp.com: "Lies, Damned Lies, and George W. Bush"
Lyn Nofziger's Musings: "Like Billy Graham I believe in angels."
AndrewSullivan.com: "The Beginning of the End of HIV Research"
Online Journal: "Dubya's Environmental Impact Could Be Something Really Scary"

Big buzz

With President Bush's announcement that the United States was backing away from the Kyoto accords, environmental destruction and fuzzy science are hot topics on the Web Wednesday. Witness this exchange on CNN.com between two posters with very different environmental visions. We join the discussion already in progress in which a poster responds to an earlier post that environmental destruction has been an ongoing theme in science fiction and that the prophecies of doom appear to be coming true.

"Saw that one about humans reduced to eating strange stuff, cities overcrowded, global warming, etc ... 'Soylent Green' it was called. Saw one about how humans ruined their world and let another species take over ... 'Planet of the Apes' it was called. Saw one where machines took over the world ... 'Terminator,' 'Matrix,' 'Colossus.'

"I also saw 'War of the Worlds,' 'Godzilla,' and 'Dude! Where's My Car!' Great movies ... (except for 'Dude, WMC!') ... don't think it will happen. Global warming? I don't believe that either. When meteorologists can start predicting the weather for the next day 100 percent accurately, then maybe I'll listen to some of the global warming alarmists."

That rant earned this angry reply: "Just how retarded are you? Were you born with this mental handicap, or did something occur during your life that caused you to believe that the world is going to be 'just fine and dandy' as I paraphrase a little.

"No, the world is headed for disaster, and we do have the power to avoid it, but your stupid ignorance is one of the things I was saying in my post. No one wants to believe it, we all want our gassed-up trucks, we all want our ACs running high in the summer, we all feel the need to cut down acre after acre of ancient forests because we all need more toilet paper, because we 'can't spare a square.'

"When blind people like you fall, it is a joy for the rest of us when we are proven right. I don't claim to be right in everything I do in my life, but in this case, I can't imagine myself being wrong, with all the evidence supporting me and the responsibility to make sure future generations of humans aren't as stupid as you. Why don't you go take a walk through the streets in 20 years, and not try to puke from the putrid air you created."

The Freepers were in full celebration mode at the news that Bush was backing out of the treaty. "Take your Junk Science and shove it up your protocol," writes one.

And on Table Talk, fingers were still pointing in Ralph Nader's direction. "The [Democrats] may have opened the door, but the Greens bulldozed the building down and laid down the red carpet for Bushy over the rubble."

For more Red vs. Blue, click here.

Submit your own rant or direct us to a good political online discussion by e-mailing us at redvsblue@salon.com, or jump right into a Table Talk discussion about Red vs. Blue.


By Anthony York

Anthony York is Salon's Washington correspondent.

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