Escaping from Hauss Square, Birmingham AL and L'America itself? Get it in writing first.

Earlier in the week there were ruminations on the general topic of intellectualism's cruel fate within the political precincts comprising the city New Albany.

ON THE AVENUES: Anachronisms and intellectuals, here and there.

Hence, the tendency of New Albanian intellectuals to seek refuge in the cool embrace of Progressive Pints.

Forget for moment the blinding speed with which local ink-stained wretches, their pockets filled with 'Bama doubloons and Gideon screeds, rushed forward to Tweet my very point as it pertains to the media.

Rather, consider Bluegill's subsequent suggestion of reading material:

America -- the Grim Truth, by Lance Freeman (Escape from America Magazine)

Americans, I have some bad news for you:

You have the worst quality of life in the developed world – by a wide margin.

If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker.

Another excerpt addresses our own peculiarly runted newsie institution.

If the people cannot make a change, how about the media? Not a chance. From Fox News to the New York Times, the mass media in the United States is nothing but the public relations wing of the corporatocracy, primarily the military industrial complex. At least the citizens of the former Soviet Union knew that their news was bullshit. In America, you grow up thinking you’ve got a free media, which makes the propaganda doubly effective. If you don’t think American media is mere corporate propaganda, ask yourself the following question: have you ever heard a major American news outlet suggest that the country could fund a single-payer health system by cutting military spending?

If only the Garner administration had made good on its promise of a million bucks. Come to think of it, just a dollar per broken promise in these burgs would add up to a plane ticket -- and that's just the spewspaper

Jeers for Islamophobes, homophobes and pop-up ads for car dealers.

I'm in agreement with this jeer, but how does one cancel a subscription anonymously? When I cancelled ours last week, I had to tell the helpful young lady exactly which street address to remove, which had the effect of giving away my identity. Of course, anonymity's always been a foreign concept for me.

Hmm, I wonder if the Islamophobe referenced here by editor Van Hoy was the same as one of the two homophobes (Saundra Bottom and Betty Robertson) who wrote letters on August 4 to advance the bizarre position that as Christians, they're actually the victims of persecution if they cannot use their religion to justify persecution and discrimination against others in this, a secular society.

Apparently it's peak season here in the Open Air Museum of Ignorance, Superstition and Backwardness. By the way, how'd you like that ice-cold Budweiser down by the river last night?

JEERS

... to the anonymous caller who apparently decided to cancel her subscription because of content on the Mini Page, of all pages.

A recent edition of that page — which is aimed at young children — contained a lesson on Islamic history and Ramadan. Taking “God out of everything” did not sit well with the reader.

God, Allah, Buddha, Flying Spaghetti Monster, insert your favorite deity here, nothing at all — it’s all fine by me.

— Editor Shea Van Hoy