1 Don't you mean 'Smeagol' McCain?

2 Fixed that for him. I'm the LOTR nerd on this blog.

3 Dude, you're just a "nerd".  No need for the adjective in there.

4 There are things I really like about McCain, (and some things I don't ... later) Anyway, this is the sort of thing I like. I doubt when he was flying missions during Vietnam he could afford to overly diplomatic with the enemy. Congress is with the enemy on to many things, and McCain has not been overly diplomatic. Bravo!      
                       USA, all the way!

5 #2 Vinnie What does LOTR stand for?

6

The "Lord Of The Rings" (sorry for cutting in Vinnie)  A literary trilogy by JRR Tolkien, as well as a trilogy of excellent films based on the books. I find the works to be a true expression of what heroism is about. I also find some messages of contemporary value, though I'm sure the author never intended them to fit our times so well. I offer the thought, that some truth's are timeless. No insult intended for the StarWars fans here, but we needed Jackson's LOTR, more than we needed Lucas' space opera, and I say that as a fan of both stories.                  USA, all the way!

7 To clarify, the StarWars films fit the mentality of the left with little imagination required on thier part. Bush = Palpatine, and Cheney = Vader. Our troops being burned in effigy are just Stormtroopers in desert camo, and the ineffective Senate of Coruscant, has little on our own Congress for machinations, and inefficieny.  Again, I am a StarWars fan, but nowadays everything is political, and so the joys of our youth are twisted into metaphors for an agenda. 
                  USA, all the way!

8

Captain America 'died' recently. I don't recall seeing an official Marvel position, but one of the people producing the comic said it had reached a point where all the fans on the left wanted Cap to be speaking out against the Bush Administration, while those more to the right wanted him to be fighting more overseas terrorists or some such.

I feel there is only one way to write Captain America, and that is as the exemplary Patriot. In uniform, he is for all Americans, and the Republic in which they live. The elected officials of this nation deserve his respect, because the people put them there. What Cap does as a private citizen in a polling booth, is his personal business, and in the day he came from, you didn't talk politics, because it wasn't polite. So now, as what must be seen as a corporate effort to protect a well loved character, Cap is 'dead'.

Now Marvel doesn't have to worry so much if he is to left, or to right. 'Dead' men tell no tales. And Cap doesn't seem to have any living relatives to embarrass him by joining Code Pink, so he may be safe for the duration. The left killed him by clinging to him like leeches. They took him out at the legs by making thier 'economics' felt by the company that owns his TM, and that shows you how bad it is. Our Captain America can't do things that are to 'pro-American' or he'll lose fans, and money for the company.

So Marvel (unofficially, but officially) took him out of the equation.

Unfortunately, it's times like now we need him most, like we needed him in the days after Pearl Harbor. A guy who was always dressed for the occasion of beating up some totalitarian stooges, and wasn't afraid to do it. Back in the day, the people who didn't like his attitude were called Fifth Columnists, and Nazi's, because that's what they had to be, to not like Captain America, in those days. Now they are just 'concerned' customers. Nice.

Marvel will bring back Cap someday, as is common in comic book land. What he comes back as, and what he decides he is going to stand for, depends on us. If we lose the war at home, Cap may as well come back with a hammer and sickle, or a crescent moon on his chest.  He won't be Captain America anymore, no matter what the TM says. He could be Captain Sharia! Woudn't that sell magazines over seas? Our cultural identity is at great risk, and Cap is only a recent casualty. Don't you think someone should AVENGE him?

So anyway, I got launched off. What does Frodo's Shire, and our Republic have in common? A way of life worth fighting for. There are many other similarities. The tough question is which Democrat is Wormtongue? And who plays the part of Denethor? As for the Orcs, some of those burned an effigy of a US soldier the other day, and dragged our flag on the ground like a dead poodle. I'm getting to where I do see a genuine similarity. Don't you?

So thats what I'm thinking tonight.  USA, all the way!