"He-Man is More Powerful than Jesus"

Now, before you start trying to save my soul or argue that Skeletor is stronger than either of them, I am not the one that said this. This quote comes from a video made in the mid-80s by Phil Phillips and Gary Greenwald that attacked the demonic, anti-Christian gateway toys, movies and cartoons such as He-Man, Dungeons and Dragons and ... The Smurfs.

Okay, I'll give them the last one. Smurfs are weird.

Greenwald was the asshat who really ramped up the "Everything kids like are full of Satan" movement in the 1980s. And the video excerpted below was his masterpiece, his Pietà of insanity, simply called Deception of a Generation.

Game pieces possessed by demonic spirits. Voltron is sexually oriented. G.I. Joe is occult-oriented. You have to watch out for those sneaky Hindus. Obi Wan Kenobi practices something called "Obi Witchcraft" (God as my witness they actually say this). And of course, the creepy creepy Smurfs are dead, gay Satan creatures.

Some things from the 80s really, really sucked. Greenwald and the other Bible-thumpers were one of those things. And while it is fun (and proper) to laugh at this bullshit, it has serious consequences for the rest of us even today.

The people who said and thought things like "They think He-Man is more powerful than Jesus" are the same knuckleheads who say "The Affordable Care act is socialism" and "Obama is like Hitler!" today. It's the same reactionary mindset that sees enemies and conspiracies around every corner and in the heart of every person that is different from them.

It's a toxic mix of self-righteousness, fear and stupidity that never questions itself, never wonders if they have it right. They see something different...and it's bad. Or possessed by Satan. Or Stalin brought back to life.

Yeah, Greenwald is a doofus with a bad haircut. But he set the table for people like Glenn Beck and the Tea Party. And it's why we can't get anything done in this country today.

Sox Win!

This picture from the Boston Globe pretty much says it all.

That right there is closer Koji Uehara. 38 years old, on the tail end of a career that has seen him play in Japan and the US since 1999. He came to the US in 2009 to pitch for the Orioles and was traded to the Texas Rangers in 2011. That year the Rangers made it to the World Series only to get beat by - wait for it - the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

So it must be satisfying for him to face that same team two years later and win that elusive World Series ring. Just as satisfying as it must be for ever member of this a team, a team that was overwhelmingly picked to finish last in the AL East this year. Most sports pundits said that, with luck, the Sox might win 80 games. Instead, they have their third title in ten years.

It's funny going from a Sox fan who worried they would never win a title in my lifetime to a Sox fan who has seen them do it three times. Yeah, maybe everyone enjoyed the hard-luck "Curse of the Bambino" story more, but it is way better being winners. Congrats, guys.

Fare thee well, Edna.

There were rumors that, in what I think is the 137th season of The Simpsons, another major character was going to move to the Great Beyond. Sadly, reality forced the issue when Marcia Wallace, the voice of Edna Krabappel, passed away at age 70

So here's to you, Marcia/Edna, with one of my favorite clips and a great montage: