I know it's off-season, but I'm going to get political for a second. I'm sorry.

See, this is why I get frustrated. "Tolerance" is a lovely virtue, oh yes, especially when it only has to apply toward people you agree with. I guess I'm evil because I'm a right-wing conservative and I don't think tolerance is a virtue. I think it's Newspeak for apathy. I'll take love and compassion over tolerance any day. Besides, calling me evil is, I suspect, a far cry from being tolerant.

Fine, I can live with Dean's condemnation. It's his inconsistent thinking that troubles me. What he's saying doesn't even make any internal sense. How can Republicans being intolerant rob him of his right to be tolerant? No one is capable of taking away his ability to tolerate others' actions. If what he's trying to say in his cryptic nuance is that he doesn't want Republicans to legislate their ideas of morality, well, I think that's pretty intolerant of him. Why can't he be tolerant of their desires?

Not to mention the fact that I don't recall there being a "right to be tolerant" asserted anywhere in the Constitution. Tolerance isn't really something proactive; in fact, it's impossible to defend, because in doing so, you're being intolerant toward someone else's ideas. You're trying to coerce them into accepting your ideas, insisting that their ideas are inferior to yours. The only action a truly tolerant person can take is remaining silent.

"The issue is not abortion," Dean told the closed-door fund-raiser. "The issue is whether women can make up their own mind instead of some right-wing pastor, some right-wing politician telling them what to do."

No, the issue is whether or not abortion is murder, whether or not a fetus is a human life or only tissue, and at what point this transformation happens, if indeed it happens in the first place. Frankly, the mother's decision to have an abortion or not has nothing to do with the issue. I'm sure I'm ruffling some feathers here, but this is the greatest issue I have with the pro-choice crowd. A woman can choose to drown her 4 year-old child, but we call that murder; it's illegal. We don't claim that she has the right to do that. No American has the right to choose whether or not to murder someone. If abortion isn't murder, fine - you get to choose whether or not you want to have it done. But that's the only point at which "choice" becomes a deciding factor in this debate. Dean is obfuscating the issue with meaningless doubletalk.

I guess I could also mention that "there is not one county in this state, I don't care how far west you go," that doesn't have Republicans. Or Independents. Or Libertarians. But I'm sure you noticed that the first time you read it, and I've talked about politics for too long today.

So, just for Michael:

Neverwinter Nights.

Oh, and speaking of the online gaming, I was directed to something disturbing...and disturbingly appealing...by the City of Arabel forums.

Hah! At least I'm not like those EverQuest people! No, sirree!

No time for pizza, I think I've finally figured out how to defeat the Spirit of the Neverwinter Wood. It's only taken me sixteen tries...

I also got an e-mail from the Campaign people, listing the Cloakie nominations for this year. I'm sad that I missed the Elven game, the wedding of Olivia Goslar (I really wanted Rannulf to make it to that), and, of course, the Wild West game. Man. I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with art school, regular Friday night D&D sessions, a play-by-post Transhuman Space game, upcoming AIM chat game sessions of GURPS Warhammer and that sci-fi D20 game I started with Michael and Dan, and, of course...

Neverwinter Nights.

Yep, life is hard.