"February is there to show people who don't drink what a hangover is like."
The quote is Garrison Keillor, who most conservatives don't like, but I would defend outright because I love to hear him tell a story. (It's my Scandinavian Minnesotan Lutheran Lake Wobegon homestead roots)
Wow, maybe we are 'brothers'. My birthday is also in April, last Friday, maybe that is what got me down. My father was Scandinavian (Finnish) and of Lutheran descent, and grew up by a lake in Ely, Minnesota, where his parents moved at the end of the 19th century. Not only that, but my sister lives in Washington State, and used to live in Kent, probably within a stone's throw of the Gwahir family.
But he is a bitter, hateful, spiteful and STUPID liberal. I say that having heard dozens and dozens of PHCs. The way he talked about Gingrich and the Republicans — it's just as well I wasn't within striking distance of the man.
He has a deep hatred of Christianity, too, which he masks beneath singing all those hymns and his little (pathetic, absurd, insane) religious characters. Particularly in the area of sexuality, he found the way of Christ not to his liking. It comes out virulently in his writing, but it leaks into his folksy, homey commentary as well.
I remember him fondly telling the story, all warm and winsome, about how older folks so love Proms, because kids having sex at them make little great-grandchildren. I thought, To be that clueless, do you have to take a class, or does it come naturally to him? Just the message we need today: children having sex is a homey, heart-warming, wonderful tradition, because it's how we get grandchildren. But of course the real purpose is to assuage his own conscience.
This is the man who spoke at length about how Paula Poundstone was the most "courageous" artist he knew. I wrote him then, a couple-few years ago, asked him whatever he could mean. She is occasionally funny, says some shallow, knee-jerk liberal cliches — but "courage"?
I still enjoy listening to PCH when I can (Lives of the Cowboys, Guy Noir, the skits, the guests, and yes, the monologue). Keillor's very talented. But the man is soul-sick, and his values are contemptuous and despicable.
Dan
I agree (German Minnesotan Catholic Minneapolis suburban roots & all:)