MY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Thank you everybody, thank you, all of you at Time Magazine who made this award possible, and who bestowed upon me this incredible recognition and honor. To put it succinctly, you "couldn't have picked a better guy."
Having said that, I'd like to thank everybody out there who put me where I am today: all my grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles - Those mind-numbing Italian feasts gave me the metabolic equivalent of a perfect storm; John Kerry, for showing me all of those hip football ref signals (remind me to show everybody what those were again); Howard Dean, for personalizing the concept of the 'primal scream'; Cynthia McKinney, for kindly pushing that horrible racist security guard aside and showing HERSELF the door; John Cole, for showing me how to fool the normally fool-proof lie detector of the American blogosphere (sure, Andrew Sullivan was the first, but he tended to lean that way); Jimmah for going wherever the heck he goes, and keeping us busy with his diplomatic miscues; Al Gore, for inventing the Internet and paving the way for this prestigious award; and finally, my Mom, who always looked out for number one!

By the way, I hope you have the time for the other 6 billion or so acceptance speeches in the wings, Time.

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THE MULLAHS?

They've found a new way to disguise a full-on hatefest!

Iran said that the aim of the conference was to find answers to questions about the Holocaust from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has described it as a "myth" and cast doubt on the scale of the slaughter. ...
"There is no scientific proof to show that this place was an extermination camp. All that exists are the words of some people," said Richard Krege.

Of course, given the recent strong words against Israel by President Manny, the conference would be more aptly titled:

"The Holocaust: Not true, but a heck of a good idea".

Sick.

THE PROBLEM: GIVING UP

I think I've got a handle on why this country's been on a downward spiral ever since I can remember. It really follows hand-in-hand with our moral deterioration. It has nothing to do with interest rates, or global warming, or fast food. It has everything to do with giving up.

Wouldn't you agree? We'd love to have life handed to us on a nice large tray while we're lounging around in our easy chairs. I don't know where the idea came from, but somehow most of us expect life to be easy and free of any long-term complications, discomfort, or inconvenience.

We were so used to being the best at everything that we forgot what kind of character a little bit of difficulty could bring.

Maybe it started with Vietnam. Things got a little rough over there, and the government was afraid to make any decisive tactical moves, so we just... gave up and came back home. Or maybe it started when we gave up teaching our children right and wrong, because it was just the easier thing to do, and because that book by Dr. Spock said so. Maybe it started because all of a sudden people stopped thinking of marriage as an eternal bond and just gave up when they refused to overcome their pigheaded selfish stubbornness and discreetly termed it "irreconcilable differences".

However it started, it's held fast.

Pregnancy was too tough for some women to bear, so we necessitated abortion. School was too tough, so we stopped teaching the basics and started with this smoke-and-mirrors self esteem hogwash. People complain about Christmas trees in public places, and we immediately cede to their wishes. We flat out give up.

The Iraq war isn't anything close to how bad things can be when we lose our way and our stomach to fight. It's a harsh line to hold, but there are enemies out there who are far more dedicated and believe more strongly in their dogma, no matter how wrong it is, than we do.

It's not getting any better, and don't expect it to until we get back to the values of those before us: responsibility, maturity, dedication, honor, courage, faith, and decency. We have to change, but I don't think America's going to undertake that change until most of us realize the stakes:

If we're afraid to fight, we will soon lose our freedom.
If we're afraid to endure, we will soon lose our strength.
If we're afraid to stand up for the things that are right, ABSOLUTELY right, we will soon lose our country.

What would this world be like today if we gave up fighting World War II because bodies kept coming home in zippered bags? What if we stopped holding the hard line on Communism and allowed missiles to be placed 90 miles from our shores? What if our parents, grandparents, and those before them gave up after their failures (which more often than not occurred over and over and over)? What if Pasteur, Edison, Einstein, Wright... all who had their share of countless failures... simply threw in the towel? What if.... we give in to the evil which besets us today?

Would you care to live in such a world?