Can I borrow a couple of hammers? I'll give 'em back, I promise.

And today in "Cheap Rhetorical Tricks" we have the ever-popular "Strawman." It's handy for putting the other person on the defensive by trying to make them defend positions they don't hold! Today's special offer is the Objectivist model!

I saw a documentary that was partially about beauty pageants in India. All of the women lightened their skin. http://www.pbs.org/pov/worl…

Apparently I'm not making my point well. Aziz got lucky as hell in a way people of color rarely get lucky. He was prepared for the opportunity and works hard. Being Indian didn't help his career. And, Newman, your "Colbert…quit his job" comment is preposterous. No one is proposing that and you know it.

As I recall, Mad Magazine did the Star Trek musical already. And there's also the middle school musical but that's TNG.

I didn't mean that. Lots of people work hard and so does he. He had a peculiar confluence of events occur that made it possible for his hard work to have meaning. Never discount the luck factor.

Think of all that needed to happen for Aziz to get to be able to do it himself.

Not many people are saying that, thank God. Unfortunately the ones who ARE saying it show up a lot and say it really loud.

It's a totally perfect choice of wording.

Exactly right. People of color are supposed to play nice in polite company and not mention systemic racism. Ansari didn't and he's one of ours.

See? NOWHERE ELSE could you be confident people would get that joke!

Thomas doesn't vote. He's Scalia's second vote.

I think that theory is usually just called "GOP".

By the way, I've been using your screen name as a joke for the last 40 odd years. I have to stop myself and remember it's not the guy's actual name.

That's where all the worst racists live. Bigotry thrives when the "other" is an object. Once they become people, it withers away.

how many times can i upvote your comment?

Dude, it's not minor. It may seem like just a drop in the ocean but that's because the ocean of hate is huge. Your story doesn't have to be less for others' stories to be important.

You can't trust those little agribastards.

I think that's just a "No True Scotsman" argument or Avogadro's number or something.

Never talk politics on a political site. It's fun and informative elsewhere but being in an echo chamber hurts the ears. I say this, of course, having met my wife on DailyKos.