A few points before I go off to work, though I'll have computer access so I may put more up.

I'll be sticking with this for a while:
1- Every definition I've read of the word 'kitsch' refers to its association with bad taste. But since there can be no definition of taste that is not relative, definitions making use of the term are not very useful. Therefore:

All discussion of kitsch, if it is to be worthwhile, must avoid discussion of the subject of taste.

What is the relation between Adolf Hitler and the little plastic Jesus?
What are the ideas communicated by both?
Make no reference to 'quality' or 'moraity' or (again) to 'taste'
What is the use of language, the idea of communication that each represent?

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Bred For Servility
I could spend hours on David Brooks, but it's just not worth it.

"The Protestant Establishment is dead, and nobody wants it back. But that culture, which George Bush and Howard Dean were born into, did have a formula for producing leaders. Our culture, which is freer and fairer, does not."
By that logic, America once had a formula for producing op-ed writers.

Look at the arrogance, the smug self satisfaction, and secret fear, on the face of our fratboy Caligula and tell me if you are looking at a born leader.