Everything you need to know about the American right-wing in a single joke

Thanks to Making Light, I've discovered My RIGHT-WING DAD, which is a blog collecting the e-mails which circulate among the right-wing and those to whom right-wingers mistakenly believe they are of interest. The latest post is an amazing distillation of why I think of the current group of people who think of themselves as "conservatives" are actually dangerous, eliminationist radicals.

Subject: The Future

The Iranian Ambassador to the UN had just finished giving a speech, and walked out into the lobby where he met President Bush.

They shook hands, and as they walked the Iranian said, "You know, I have just one question about what I have seen in America.

President Bush said, "Well, anything I can do to help you, I will."

The Iranian whispered "My son watches this show 'Star Trek' and in it there is Chekhov who is Russian, Scotty who is Scottish, and Sulu who is Chinese, but no Arabs. My son is very upset and doesn't understand why there aren't any Iranians on Star Trek."

President Bush laughed, leaned toward the Iranian ambassador, and whispered back, "It's because it takes place in the future."

Note that Iranians aren't Arabs and would never refer to themselves that way. Also note that Sulu is either Japanese or "generic East Asian" rather than Chinese. But, you know, there's nothing about brown and yellow people that's worth taking ten seconds to understand, as long as they know their place.