Ay Caramba! Archives

August 04, 2008

"The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations"

The Financial Times has an interview with Gloria Steinem, a former Playboy bunny and founder of Ms. magazine who was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Steinem, who now backs Barack Obama, commits an amazing blunder:
She believes women will vote for Obama even if Clinton doesn't get the much-mooted consolation prize of the vice-president's spot on the Democratic ticket--a job Steinem doesn't think is good enough for her anyway. Why? "It's not an independent position, to put it mildly. I would rather see her as the president of the Senate."

Steinem apparently is ignorant of Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution, which stipulates: "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate." Hard to believe both Playboy and Ms. had such low standards.

"The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations," by James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, August 4, 2008

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December 22, 2006

This was the year when ... Celebrities ruled the Earth

In a world without inspirational heroes or leaders, celebrities increasingly fill the void. This is not just about the news being full of gossip and trivia, or the (very) odd MP becoming enthralled by a Cheeky Girl. It is about celebrities being used to front debates on serious issues, and every politician hanging on to celebrity coattails in a desperate bid to boost their standing. There has been no worse advert for the empty circus of public life than the tyranny of the celebrities, and the way that vacuous PR gestures have come to be considered deep and meaningful.

"The year we nearly went mad," by Mick Hume, Spiked, December 21, 2006

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May 04, 2006

"Easier to just shoot 'em, like a horse"

That was about four years ago. I had pretty much put it behind me (much like the lady in question), but then I read this story in the Boston Herald. A 78-year-old man with crippling foot problems wants to visit his severely-injured wife in the hospital, but the state says he should have expected his feet to develop this problem 12 weeks in advance -- because that's how long it can take to get a temporary handicapped parking permit. Even after the newspaper got in touch with the RMV's official spokesperson, Mr. Driscoll still might have to wait 30 days.

And now Massachusetts wants to put the same kind of bureaucracy in charge of making sure everyone has health insurance.

It's no frigging wonder this state keeps re-electing Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. That it keeps both houses of its Legislature overwhelmingly Democratic. (138-22 House, 33-7 Senate.) It's nothing short of a miracle that they keep re-electing Republicans as governors, providing the slimmest margin of safety from complete and utter collapse.

(Note: this is partly a slam against Democrats, but more against giving too much power to one party. In New Hampshire, we've occasionally been utterly dominated by Republicans, but 1) not since the 70's or so; B) never to anywhere near that extreme; and III) even at their worst, the NH GOP was nowhere dangerous as the Bay State Democrats. Except, perhaps, when the Governor of NH wanted the National Guard equipped with tactical nuclear weapons.)

"Easier to just shoot 'em, like a horse," wizbang, May 4, 2006 (emphasis added)

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February 13, 2006

Free speech

As well as being a small masterpiece of inarticulacy and self-abnegation, the statement from the State Department about this week's international Muslim pogrom against the free press was also accidentally accurate.

    "Anti-Muslim images are as unacceptable as anti-Semitic images, as anti-Christian images, or any other religious belief."

Thus the hapless Sean McCormack, reading painfully slowly from what was reported as a prepared government statement. How appalling for the country of the First Amendment to be represented by such an administration. What does he mean "unacceptable"? That it should be forbidden? And how abysmal that a "spokesman" cannot distinguish between criticism of a belief system and slander against a people. However, the illiterate McCormack is right in unintentionally comparing racist libels to religious faith. Many people have pointed out that the Arab and Muslim press is replete with anti-Jewish caricature, often of the most lurid and hateful kind. In one way the comparison is hopelessly inexact. These foul items mostly appear in countries where the state decides what is published or broadcast. However, when Muslims republish the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or perpetuate the story of Jewish blood-sacrifice at Passover, they are recycling the fantasies of the Russian Orthodox Christian secret police (in the first instance) and of centuries of Roman Catholic and Lutheran propaganda (in the second). And, when an Israeli politician refers to Palestinians as snakes or pigs or monkeys, it is near to a certainty that he will be a rabbi (most usually Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the leader of the disgraceful Shas party) and will cite Talmudic authority for his racism. For most of human history, religion and bigotry have been two sides of the same coin, and it still shows.

Therefore there is a strong case for saying that the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and those who have reprinted its efforts out of solidarity, are affirming the right to criticize not merely Islam but religion in general. And the Bush administration has no business at all expressing an opinion on that. If it is to say anything, it is constitutionally obliged to uphold the right and no more. You can be sure that the relevant European newspapers have also printed their share of cartoons making fun of nuns and popes and messianic Israeli settlers, and taunting child-raping priests. There was a time when this would not have been possible. But those taboos have been broken.

"Cartoon Debate: The case for mocking religion," by Christopher Hitchens, Slate, February 4, 2006

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November 04, 2005

Alien Abduction and Recovered Memories

Speculation about extraterrestrial beings is ancient, but "alien abduction" as we know it originated in the 1960s, after a New Hampshire couple named Betty and Barney Hill claimed to have been kidnapped by extraterrestrials. Betty was a fan of movies like Invaders From Mars. Her story inspired a best-selling book, a TV movie, and Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Many more people began to report abductions, which in turn led to more books and movies, which led to more people claiming to have been abducted—in a sense, it was Hollywood that had abducted them.

"Beam Me Up, Godly Being: Is alien abduction real—or a creation of Hollywood?" by Karen Olsson, Slate, October 31, 2005

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September 19, 2005

Fatwa ... Burger King lids ... formidable foes ...

protein wisdom ... "We commend the sensitive and prompt action that Burger King has taken."

The fast-food chain, Burger King, is withdrawing its ice-cream cones after the lid of the dessert offended a Muslim.

We like this comment ... "All your words/symbols/lives are belong to us!"

my response to Burger King's decision ... goodbye Whopper ... goodbye BK fries ... goodbye BK ... hope appeasing idiots works out for you ...

What's next ... "This ad is CAIR approved" ... hajibs on all women in ads? ... displayed on products? ... instant hajib! ...

and you thought the study of medievalism was only for historians! ... "The medieval age was tyrannized by a demand for spiritual perfectionism, making it hard to accomplish anything practical."

during the Cold War, many suggested dropping JC Penney or Sears catalogs behind the Iron Curtain ... why use bombs on gynephobic wankers ... drop Victoria's Secret catalogs ... they might spontaneously combust ...

and note the hyper sensitivity of these wankers ... compared with the response of a Catholic guy to images of the Blessed Virgin Mary with dung and crucifixes in urine ... kind of makes you wonder how formidable such sensitive types are ...

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September 15, 2005

Garrison Keillor sues blog ...

Garrison Keillor, the host of A Prarie Home Companion ... which IMHO ceased being funny many years ago ... has sued a blog ...

"Trial Of The Century: Keillor V. MNspeak.com," MNspeak.com, September 14, 2005

A Prairie Homeboy Companion

On a Tuesday night two weeks ago, the letter showed up in the mail. It is included below, so you can see for yourself the kind of verbal mastery it takes to make a legal document sound like Keillor's forlorn nostalgic prose.

Let's quickly review the situation: Garrison Keillor -- a liberal comedian! -- is threatening to sue MNspeak -- some blog! -- that uses a t-shirt to poke fun of his mega-gigantic media empire. You'd think we shot Guy Noir or something.

Man, this guy is getting old.

Ay caramba!

We had to craete a new category, Stupidity, for this post.

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September 04, 2005

Arts and Crafts in pre-calculus ... and law school

JoAnne Jacobs has a depressing piece about make-work in high school:

My niece started her junior year at a highly rated California high school. For her honor pre-calculus class, she was assigned to do a collage about herself.

But it gets worse ... a commenter, Amber Taylor, says

"Our first assignment at Harvard Law School was to make a collage."
Here's Amber's collage.

Ay caramba!

No judge that I know of requires collages in lieu of opening motions, briefs, and statements ... yet ... the students in Amber's class won't start becoming judges for a few years ...

Bailiff: All Rise, The United States District Court of the Southwestern District of Arizona is now in session, the honorable Homer Simpson presiding.

Judge Simpson: Good morning. Before we can start what looks to be an interesting trial ... Bailiff, are there any more of those chocolate glazed donuts? Bring me a couple please ... Uh, where was I? Oh yes. Counsel, there is a preliminary matter that must be taken care of. You have failed to submit your opening collages. If you need help, please see Lisa or Maggie.

The perfect court case for opening collages ... or cartoons ... is COYOTE V. ACME PRODUCTS CORP.

Update: Prof. Reynolds, thanks for the link.

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August 22, 2005

13-year-olds can get abortions without parental consent but 18-year-olds are still "children" if they want to join the military ...

Ay caramba! Mark Steyn writes:

They're not children in Iraq; they're grown-ups who made their own decision to join the military. That seems to be difficult for the left to grasp. Ever since America's all-adult, all-volunteer army went into Iraq, the anti-war crowd have made a sustained effort to characterize them as "children." If a 13-year-old wants to have an abortion, that's her decision and her parents shouldn't get a look-in. If a 21-year-old wants to drop to the broadloom in Bill Clinton's Oval Office, she's a grown woman and free to do what she wants. But, if a 22- or 25- or 37-year-old is serving his country overseas, he's a wee "child" who isn't really old enough to know what he's doing.

I get many e-mails from soldiers in Iraq, and they sound a lot more grown-up than most Ivy League professors and certainly than Maureen Dowd, who writes like she's auditioning for a minor supporting role in ''Sex And The City.''

The infantilization of the military promoted by the left is deeply insulting to America's warriors but it suits the anti-war crowd's purposes. It enables them to drone ceaselessly that "of course" they "support our troops," because they want to stop these poor confused moppets from being exploited by the Bush war machine.

"'Peace Mom's' marriage a metaphor for Dems," by Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, August 21, 2005

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August 19, 2005

Christmas light displays

Does your spouse think your Christmas light display is over the top? ... see this ... "Showing Off in 2004: Ready to see well over 150 of the best 2004 Light Displays!" ... from PlanetChristmas

Ay caramba!

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August 17, 2005

Ay caramba! Hope this isn't true...

Captain's Quarters is reporting that the City of New London, CT, which recently won in Kelo vs. New London, is now claiming that not only must the homeowners leave under eminent domain, the same homeowners owe the City of New London RENT for the years spent fighting the City of New London's eminent domain taking. AND, the homeowners will only be paid for the value of the proeprty at the time of the initiation of the suit, in 2000.

Oh, did I remember to mention that the article claims that the NLDC also insists that all rent collected from tennants of the people who thought they were the owners of their own property actually belongs to the City of New London, and must also be forked over, forthwith? This, too, could amount to tens of thousands of dollars that the hapless home(less)owners now owe the city... for having had the temerity to object to being treated like Mediaeval serfs, ousted at will by the local lord.

These erstwhile owners are in the process of having their lives utterly destroyed by the city in which most were born.

And thank God for Anthony Kennedy! If it weren't for him, these poor saps might have had to shuffle on through life laden down with all these, you know, dwelling places and such.

"Dafydd: Bride of Imminent Domain," Captain's Quarters, August 16, 2006

Other Resources

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