Gerard,

While fully acknowledging that there are circumstances that merit a heart felt apology, let me just address some advice that my father gave me to all the serial apologizers:

"You need to shut the hell up before I give you something that you'll really be sorry about."

Note: Much more profanity was involved, and you can rest assured that he wasn't kidding.

mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa...

Groveling sounds better in Latin.

Is saying 'sorry' the confessional of the leftists?

But since they are self-absorbed, instead a small enclosed stall in which only a priest hears the cries of sorrow from the penitent, it's a conference room packed with the press and their cameras to capture and replay the confession ad infinitum?

"Go, my son, and hear your words replayed for two weeks, or until something more interesting comes along, on all the news outlets and then you shall be free from your sin."

"You owe me an apology."
-- Cole Oyl, father of Olive.

So, did O'Reilly call you on the phone and cry or something?
There's a world of difference between making a mistake and needing to apologise. I may think that Donald Trump is an jack*** (new obscenity rule noted), but I doubt my apologising will do him any good (or ill).
You sound like you need a beer, dude. Go get a cold Dos Equiis, and watch some cartoons or something.

Once more, with feeling.

Cockroach stool!!!????
Please do not say Cockroach Stool!!!

Would be a good name for a heavy metal band, though.

A million years ago I told a Gunnery Sergeant that I was sorry for something I'd bollixed.

What an education that was.

"Don't apologize. Marines are NEVER "sorry". Take responsibility, then go fix anything that needs fixing."

(The above reminiscence has been edited to conform to the standards of comportment in effect on Gerard's blog. And it's a good thing, too, because I don't think I could fit the rest of the Gunny's wisdom in in under five blue-scorched paragraphs.)

"Karl Rove, the White House adviser, in choosing to deliver his scurrilous remarks about 9/11 in New York - "conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers" - insulted not only the New Yorkers who suffered directly from 9/11 but also our government officials, who in a rare display deferred partisanship for the common good.

President Bush and Mr. Rove abused that spirit of cooperation, actively misleading both parties in Congress to support a hasty war targeting the wrong enemy.

Now, when the disaster of that misguided crusade has become evident, White House officials seek to deflect justified criticism with Mr. Rove's appalling remarks not far from ground zero. Have they no shame?"

President Muffley on the phone with Premier Kissoff in "Dr. Strangelove:"

I'm sorry too, Dimitri. I'm very sorry. Alright! You're sorrier than I am! But I am sorry as well. I am as sorry as you are, Dimitri. Don't say that you are more sorry than I am, because I am capable of being just as sorry as you are. So we're both sorry, alright? Alright."

I liked that so much, I pasted it into the beginning of the essay. Thanks!

Excellent, most excellent Mr. Vanderleun...

Used this piece over at my place...

Thanks.

I'm not sorry and I'm not apologizing. I have done nothing to apologize for, and I will not apologize for what I have done. Had I the opportunity to do it again, I would.

What I did was right, it was proper, and it was necessary. I will not apologize for doing anything that helps another, or which stops a 3rd party from harming another. It is not your right to tell me I have to wait for the 'proper authorities' when, by acting, I can keep the matter from getting worse. You either learn to trust in my judgement, or you can get lost.

If you don't like it, you can lump it. Take it down the road and dump it.

How typical of you, Gerard, that you think you can get off the hook by merely apologizing for your own shortcomings. Oh, no. You're just getting started. Get back down on your knees and apologize for all the misdeeds of your race, gender, ethnic background, nationality, religion (or lack thereof), political party, economic class, and age bracket. While you didn't technically commit those sins, you must know that in this enlightened and politically correct world, guilt is communal.

Next, you must apologize for the transgressions of your ancestors -- and that includes all previous generations of people who share your skin color, ethnic background, religious persuasion, and so forth, even if you're not actually descended from them. Have you publicly embraced the notion of reparations for slavery? Have you apologized to every Muslim in the world for the Crusades? Have you begged the Japanese to forgive you for the atom-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Craved the pardon of the Irish for the Potato Famine? Abased yourself before the Native Americans for the abuses they've suffered? It's incumbent upon you to comb through the history books, find every vile deed committed by anyone who resembled you in any way, and prostrate yourself before the victims in an agony of self-loathing.

I hope you're wearing kneepads. You're going to be down there for a long, long time.

Adequate /s, but perfect would be an image of a puppy and a kitten.

Deep Sorriness Atonement Song

(for missed appointment, BBC North, Manchester)

The man who sold Manhattan for a halfway decent bangle,
He had talks with Adolf Hitler and could see it from his angle,
And he could have signed the Quarrymen but didn't think they'd make it
So he bought a cake on Pudding Lane and thought "Oh well I'll bake it"

But his chances they were slim
And his brothers they were Grimm,
And he's sorry, very sorry,
But I'm sorrier than him.

And the drunken plastic surgeon who said "I know, let's enlarge 'em!"
And the bloke who told the Light Brigade "Oh what the hell, let's charge
'em",
The magician with an early evening gig on the Titanic
And the Mayor who told the people of Atlantis not to panic,

And the Dong about his nose
And the Pobble re his toes,
They're all sorry very sorry
But I'm sorrier than those.

And don't forget the Bible, with the Sodomites and Judas,
And Onan who discovered something nothing was as rude as,
And anyone who reckoned it was City's year for Wembley.
And the kid who called Napoleon a shortarse in assembly,

And the man who always smiles
Cause he knows I have his files,
They're all sorry, really sorry,
But I'm sorrier by miles.

And Robert Falcon Scott who lost the race to the Norwegian,
And anyone who's ever split a pint with a Glaswegian,
Or told a Finn a joke or spent an hour with a Swiss-German,
Or got a mermaid in the sack and found it was a merman,

Or him who smelt a rat,
And got curious as a cat,
They're all sorry, deeply sorry,
But I'm sorrier than that.

All the people who were rubbish when we needed them to do it,
Whose wires crossed, whose spirit failed, who ballsed it up or blew it,
All notches of nul points and all who have a problem Houston,
At least they weren't in Kensington when they should have been at Euston.

For I didn't build the Wall
And I didn't cause the Fall
But I'm sorry, Lord, I'm sorry,
I'm the sorriest of all.

-- Glyn Maxwell

from The Breakage

This post is a prime example of why I love this site. The thoughts expressed make me think, laugh, and think some more.

"Gerard, Come back!"
"Come back and live with me and Ma and the other Ma, and the other Ma......"
(with apologies to "Shane")
Gerard, you at least tried to get us to use our brains on Sunday. Your dream of Hollywood, movie stars, expensive cars, capitalism run amok, was too much. Like Icarus, you flew too close to the sun.....
Gerard, I salute you...
and find you damned attractive as well......
Oh well, late to the party as usual.......

Okay. I'm back and I'm NOT SORRY!

I'm just sorry I'm seeing this now!

That's okay. With the Gay Marriage item, you'll be seeing it again soon.

Five years since you penned this epic one time forever apology. It still works, only now, you've been supplanted by a sorrier commander-in-chief, one who is truly sorrier than Dmitri and President Muffley.