Keepin' it real, keepin' it clean... keepin' it real clean

Reader SJS reminds the GTL that on the Internet one may write the word "s**t" without the asterisks (see comments on the April 21st post). I thank him heartily for his comment (he may be a she, by the way; if we're going to bust stereotypes, perhaps we shouldn't engage in them ourselves).

Let me clarify: the asterisks do not represent self-censorship, since everyone knows exactly what letters lurk underneath. I do this in order to keep ammunition out of the hands of those who might make an ad hominem attack on the GTL's sense of "morality" and seek to detract from our political analyses on this blog with pointless questions about propriety.

To put it another way, just because the President called a New York Times reporter a "major league a**hole" in public and the vice president told Pat Leahy to "go f**k [him]self" on the floor of the Senate, it doesn't mean this type of language is acceptable for mainstreamers. Gutter-trash talk is apparently okay for right-wing presidents and ideologues in government, but I'm thinking about all of your grandmothers out there who may feel unclean if confronted with a written expletive.

Thanks again, SJS, and for the record I am tickled pink that you would find this little blog interesting. Keep commenting! And for those of you who wish center-leftists like the GTL would simply vanish I say: you're a major league [Bushism]! Go [Cheney word] yourself!

Peace to all and watch out for falling house majority leaders!