In the same way that the speed of light varies depending on the medium through which it passes, so too does the speed of meme. Through the medium of blogosphere, it seems memes travel significantly faster than light.

The original article appeared only this morning (in the Baltimore Sun, which must be freaking out at all the extra traffic): the Bush administration is waging war on porn. The Bush administration hates porn; remember national protection from pornography week? This is what happens when you elect crazy religious fundamentalists, especially ones like John Ashcroft who can't tell -- or doesn't care about -- the difference between pornography, art and free expression. This is the guy who covers up naked statues, because he can't stand to give press conferences in front of a brass boob, so no wonder Janet's superbowl half-boob shocked him to the core.

But never fear, the blogosphere is here! Now you can have a picture of John Ashcroft composed of a collage of pornographic images. You can have it big enough to print out! (or jerk off to, I suppose, if you're straight and have good eyesight). I like this a lot. As someone who appreciates porn (in the same way that the clinically obese "appreciate" doughnuts), I object to people who want to take it away. So fuck off, John, and I really, really hope this has offended you.

This is all via Wonkette, which is getting a lot of flak recently for a bunch of gay-related jokes, which Republibloggers have decided is homophobic, completely failing to notice any irony in saying that kind of stuff about George Bush, the man currently trying to put anti-gay wording into their nation's most sacred document, in direct violation of his states'-rights-first Republican principles. They should calm down; the liking-and-licking Bush joke is neither as offensive nor as funny as people have made it out to be, but Wonkette is great and should be read if only so you don't miss the fantabulous in-jokes: like "Shaking the trees" is the new "hair on fire".