Your Mandarin would like to announce the latest recipient of the coveted “Bootie” award. And the winner is New York Times columnist Paul Krugman for his latest opinion
piece regarding 9/11:

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?

Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.
I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons.

Not going to comment for obvious reasons? You mean the inability to defend the indefensible? Mr. Krugman, you are correct in that there has been an effort to poison the memory of 9/11. The truth of the matter is that it has been poisoned by the likes of you and your fellow travelers in the Progressive anti-American movement. It must give you great comfort to blame the United States for the events of 9/11 instead of placing the blame where it belongs – on true evil in the form of those who would seek to enslave and kill those who don’t believe in the tenets of Islam. Bet then again why would you turn against them since your Mandarin suspects that you believe in some strange way that this current enemy of the United States, and freedom in general, will avenge the defeat of your perceived socialist paradise of the former Soviet Union.

Your are correct, Mr. Krugman: 9/11 has been hijacked for foul and nefarious purposes. But your Mandarin suggests that you look in the mirror to see the greatest offender of this crime.

The Mandarin

The Mandarin, whose real name is 吏恆, joined the order in 1309, and introduced the Gormogons into England during the 18th Century.

The Mandarin enjoys spending time with his pet manticore, Βάρἰκος, or Barry (who can be found in the Bestiary). When not in the Castle…well, frankly, nobody is quite sure where he goes.

The Mandarin popularized the fine art of “gut booting,” by which he delivers a powerful kick to the stomach of anyone that annoys him. Although nearly universal today, the act of gut booting or threatening someone or something with a gut boot is solely due to him.