Stupidity Archives
August 28, 2007
Let's live in the past! Yeah, that's the ticket.
Imagine an egalitarian world in which all food is organic and local, the air is free of industrial pollution, and vigorous physical exertion is guaranteed. Sound idyllic?
But hold on… Life expectancy is 30 at most; many children die at or soon after birth; life is constantly lived on the edge of starvation; there are no doctors or dentists or modern toilets. If it is egalitarian it is because everyone is dirt poor, and there is no industrial pollution because there are no factories. Food is organic because there are no pesticides or high technology farming methods. As a result, producing food means long hours of back-breaking physical work which may end up yielding little.
There is - or at least was - such a place. It is called the past. And few of us, it seems, recognise the enormous benefits to humanity of escaping from it. On the contrary, there is a pervasive culture of complaint about the perils of affluence and a common tendency to romanticise the simple life.
"Towards an age of abundance: Ignore the critics of economic growth who claim that prosperity makes us unhappy. We need to win the war against scarcity once and for all, so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of longer, healthier and wealthier lives," by Daniel Ben-Ami, Spiked, August 2007
Posted at 07:57 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Narcissism , Stupidity , Technology
April 11, 2007
"The Only Man Nancy Pelosi Won't Meet With?"
Maybe Don Imus too -- someone might ask. But here, from CQ, the president of the United States:
"What the president invited us to do was come to his office so that we could accept, without any discussion, the bill that he wants," Pelosi said at an afternoon news conference in San Francisco to discuss her trip to the Middle East last week. "That's not worthy of the concerns of the American people. And I join with Senator Reid in rejecting an invitation of that kind."
"The Only Man Nancy Pelosi Won't Meet With?" by Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Corner, April 11, 2007
OK to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad (and wtf was that all about?), but not the President of the United States? Ai yi yi....
See "Where in Syria is Nancy Pelosi?" (yes, we know these are photoshopped) And don't miss David Lunde's design for the Summer Olympics 2008 in China
Posted at 06:37 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Politics , Stupidity
August 17, 2006
"Bleeding-heart ignoramuses"
All across the board, Lebanese civilians are referred to as "civilians" where Israeli civilians are referred to as "Israelis" - an eerie and sinister difference pointed out by the non-Jewish stand-up comic genius Natalie Haynes, and one which very few people appear to have noticed - even me, until then.
. . .
Personally, I'd far prefer the Jews to be angry, aggressive and alive than meek, mild and dead - and that's what makes me and a minority like me feel so much like strangers in our own country, now more than ever. I've always loved being a hack, but now even that feels weird, as though I'm living among a bunch of snatched-body zombies who look like journalists but believe and say the most inhuman, evil things.
"Bleeding-heart ignoramuses," by Julie Burchill, HAARETZ, August 2006
Posted at 06:57 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Bigotry , Ignorance , Nihilism , Stupidity , Terrorism
June 22, 2006
The End Is Near!!!!!
I am not susceptible to disaster scenarios. I do not believe we have ten years to prevent the inevitable collapse of civilization. As long as I can remember I have been fed end-times scenarios – death by ice, death by fire, death by famine, death by smothering from heaps of clambering humans scrabbling for purchase on an overpopulated world, death by full-scale nuclear exchange, death by unstoppable global AIDS, death by a two-degree rise in temperatures, death by radon, death by alar, death by inadvertent Audi acceleration, death by juju. Doesn’t mean we won’t die of juju. But somehow we survive. The only thing I take away is a vague wistful wonder what it would be like to live in an era when things were generally so bad that the futurists spent their time assuring us it would be better. Say what you will about the past, but at least they had a future. All I’ve ever had, according to the experts, is a grim narrow window of heedless ignorance bliss followed by a dystopian irradiated world characterized by scarcity, mutation, and quite possibly intelligent chimps. You have no future. Oh, and don’t smoke!
Bah.
I’m a stupid optimist. Either the vehicle that takes me to the boneyard will get six miles per gallon of processed dinosaur, or it will run for ninety days on a milliliter of Sea-Monkey urine. Either way, all in all, we’ll make it.
James Lileks, The Bleat, June 22, 2006
Posted at 08:47 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
April 08, 2006
Lacrosse players
[H]ow could college lacrosse players be any more misogynous than your typical football-team steakhead? Perhaps it's because, unlike their football brethren, an unusually large proportion of college lacrosse players spend their high school years in sheltered, all-boys academies before heading off to liberal co-ed colleges. Most guys from single-sex schools are able to adjust. Others join the lacrosse team. The worst of this lot become creatures that are, in the words of a friend of mine, "half William Kennedy Smith, half Lawrence Phillips." In the warm enclave of the locker room, safe from the budding feminists and comp-lit majors, their identity becomes more cemented. How else to explain the report in a Duke school paper that, roughly two weeks after the alleged rape, members of the team were spotted drinking in a Durham bar, chanting, "Duke lacrosse!"
"Lacrosse Players: The elitism of preppies, the boorishness of jocks," by Dave Jamieson, Slate, April 7, 2006
Posted at 04:50 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
March 14, 2006
Equality of outcomes ... watch your thoughts
These days the postmodern left demands that government and private institutions guarantee equality of outcomes. Any racial or gender "disparities" are to be considered evidence of culpable bias, regardless of factors such as personal motivation, training, and skill. This goal is neither liberal nor progressive; but it is what the left has chosen. In a very real sense it may be the last card held by a movement increasingly ensnared in resentful questing for group-specific rights and the subordination of citizenship to group identity. There's a word for this: pathetic.I smile when friends tell me I've "moved right." I laugh out loud at what now passes for progressive on the main lines of the cultural left.
In the name of "diversity," the University of Arizona has forbidden discrimination based on "individual style." The University of Connecticut has banned "inappropriately directed laughter." Brown University, sensing unacceptable gray areas, warns that harassment "may be intentional or unintentional and still constitute harassment." (Yes, we're talking "subconscious harassment" here. We're watching your thoughts ...).
"Leaving the left - I can no longer abide the simpering voices of self-styled progressives -- people who once championed solidarity," by Keith Thompson, San Francisco Chronicle, May 22, 2005
Posted at 04:37 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Bigotry , Ignorance , Nihilism , Politics , Stupidity
February 04, 2006
Pandering to your base ... and Buy Danish!
[L]ast September [2005] a Danish newspaper published some satirical cartoons about Mohammed, which simply isn’t done. Compared to the illos you find in the Arab press, which could be described as “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion for Dummies,” the cartoons were mild – but some people will brook no dissent. In Gaza, armed men stormed an EU office to protest the cartoons, and a group called “Holy War” demanded all Nordic-types leave in 48 hours. Odd how quickly tolerated enlightened Europeans can descend to US status, eh? It’s almost as if support for those anti-Israel UN resolutions counted for nothing.Former President Clinton, in full weathervane-mode in Qatar, denounced the cartoons as “appalling” and “totally outrageous.” “So now what are we going to do?” he asked. “Replace the anti-Semitic prejudice with anti-Islamic prejudice? . . . In Europe, most of the struggles we've had in the past 50 years have been to fight prejudices against Jews, to fight against anti-Semitism," he said. We? Bill Clinton now speaks for Europe? He continued: "Because people see headlines that they don't like (they will) apply that to a whole religion, a whole faith, a whole region and a whole people?" he asked.
No. Just the ones who vote for Hitler.
"Hitler," Screedblog, by James Lileks, February 3, 2006
"Buy Danish! to counter the Islamic boycott," The American Thinker
Piglet says, "Buy Danish" ... except the hams ...
Oh, and the offensive cartoons? here they are ...
Posted at 12:17 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
January 30, 2006
Danish products
From the burning of its flag to a boycott of its brands of butter and cookies, Denmark is feeling Islamic outrage over newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
. . .
"In (the West) it is considered freedom of speech if they insult Islam and Muslims," Mohammed al-Shaibani, a columnist, wrote in Kuwait's Al-Qabas daily Monday. "But such freedom becomes racism and a breach of human rights and anti-Semitism if Arabs and Muslims criticize their religion and religious laws."
. . .
In two West Bank towns Sunday, Palestinians burned Danish flags and demanded an apology. Several Islamist groups, including the Palestinian militant Hamas party and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, called for a worldwide boycott of Danish products.
. . .
President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon condemned the cartoon, saying his country "cannot accept any insult to any religion."
"Outrage Builds in Mideast Over Cartoons," by Donna Abu-Nasr, Forbes, January 30, 2006
we love that last quote ....
"Al Qaida's Jihad against Lebanese Christians," Jihad Watch, November 15, 2003
"The Forgotten Christians of Lebanon: Once free and equal, Lebanon's Christians now struggle against tremendous odds in a country dominated by Syrian politics and an increasingly Islamized culture," by Habib C. Malik, The Offical Lebanese Forces web site
"Lebanon's Christians," Center for Religious Freedom
Christians in the Middle East are fast disappearing from the area. The Lebanese Christians, who constitute the only influential Christian community in the Middle East, are fast declining in numbers and power.
"The Rise and Fall of Christian Minorities in Lebanon," by Fouad Abi-Esber BA MA, Encyclopedia Phoeniciana
Posted at 10:57 PM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Gynephobes , Nihilism , Stupidity , Terrorism
December 10, 2005
Free speech in Britain
So voicing concern about gay adoption now gets the police to finger your collar. Expressing the ‘wrong’ opinion is no longer considered acceptable by the state, which has decided what views are acceptable and what are not. Is this not the definition of a police state? And are the views of Lynette Burrows not shared by many, if not most, of the population? And how does this sit with all the harrumphing over the Terrorism Bill provision to outlaw material which glorifies terrorism, which is being ferociously opposed on the basis that we must never ever surrender freedom of speech, the principle at the very heart of our democracy?
"A free country?" melaniephillips.com, December 10, 2005
Posted at 09:42 AM · Comments (0) · Categories: Stupidity
December 05, 2005
"largest civil engineering disaster in the history of the United States"
New Orleans' 17th Street Canal levee was doomed. This is something we've heard from more than one source, most recently from a native who swore she saw the pilings going down into the muck as easily as a hot knife through butter. Trouble is, we're not seeing widespread support for these facts (which are coming mostly out of the New Orleans' local paper). There was plenty of coverage during the storm - most of it bad (as some in the media later admitted). This story represents an opportunity to make amends for prior shortcomings - if only the press would take it!
"A meme that bears (and needs) repeating," mister snitch!, November 30, 2005
"This is the largest civil engineering disaster in the history of the United States. Nothing has come close to the $300 billion in damages and half-million people out of their homes and the lives lost," he [Robert Bea, a University of California, Berkeley professor who led a National Science Foundation investigation of the levee failures] said. "Nothing this big has ever happened before in civil engineering."
"17th Street Canal levee was doomed: Report blames corps: Soil could never hold," by Bob Marshall, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, November 30, 2005
Posted at 10:26 AM · Comments (0) · Categories: Stupidity
November 27, 2005
Poor Sports
I rarely watch football, but this Thanksgiving I enjoyed watching the Texas vs Texas A&M football game with my family in Colorado.
It was an incredible game, which, although the Aggies lost 40-29, I thoroughly enjoyed while rooting for the Aggies. During the game I saw many instances of opposing players helping each other up after tackles. It was a well-played game, with good sportsmanship demonstrated throughout.
The Thanksgiving Day game in Texas was in sharp contrast on many levels with a game in Boulder, Colorado, the next day, November 25, 2005: the University of Colorado Buffs vs. the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The Buffs were favored to win, but the Cornhuskers triumphed 30 - 3. Unlike the Texas game, which was a very competitive, well-played, and exciting game, in the game played at Folsom Field the Cornhuskers looked like the only real college football team on the field.
In addition, starting in the 3rd quarter spectators in the CU student section started throwing objects on to the field, which resulted in game officials requiring that 2 sections be cleared before the game would continue. Although that was appalling enough, I was even more appalled when the CU coach made no effort to rebuke the CU fans throwing objects. But it also struck me as typical of CU, a school I don’t think much of.
(CU has a reputation as a party school, it has high-profile poseurs like Ward Churchill on its faculty, and a few years following the scandal of the sex-parties used to recruit CU football players. The school is a national embarrassment, and it could use a housecleaning on the academic and athletic sides.)
Unfortunately, such poor sportsmanship now seems to be the norm rather than the exception.
They don't shake hands anymore in the Northern Neck of Virginia.Too many rude comments were made, too many people got spat on, too many fights broke out. So the principals of five schools in the Northern Neck District agreed to end the policy of having opposing high school athletic teams line up single file to shake hands after the game.
In theory, that was supposed to signal an end to competition and respect for worthy opponents. In practice, football, soccer and basketball teams kept turning into wrestling teams, grappling on grass fields and hardwood floors. Hence, the ban on handshakes, which went into effect at the beginning of the athletic season. That decision has been decried by parents, editorialists and others, but was freshly affirmed by the administrators earlier this month.
You might take it as a sign that These Kids Today have no concept of sportsmanship as we did, back in the day. I'd agree, except that my high school football team used to sprint for the buses whenever they won an away game, because they knew that if the fans and players of the losing team caught them, it would not be pretty. Makes it hard to mount the high horse.
Still, I'd be lying if I said I was not struck by the ban in Virginia. If the lack of sportsmanship is not a new wrinkle, perhaps you'll agree that this acquiescence to it is.
Granted, there's no way to quantify that observation. But can you imagine a principal, a coach, a parent or some other adult authority back in the aforementioned day backing down from an important principle simply because young people resisted it?
"Adults drop the ball when they fail to punish kids' misbehavior," by Leonard Pitts Jr., The (San Jose) Mercury News, November 21, 2005
See "Poor sporting behavior incidents reported to National Association of Sports Officials" up to 2003.
"U.S. coaches lead way in poor sportsmanship," by Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN, (and yet look how Larry Brown, who demonstrated such poor sportsmanship at the Olympics, is lionized by the NBA: "universally acclaimed as one of the greatest teachers the sport has ever known...." No, he's not. "Larry Brown? With a tirade in Sydney and a timeout in Athens, he created the very international incidents Iverson was supposed to deliver on a silver (medal) platter. Brown also distanced himself from the growing possibility of defeat by criticizing his fundamentally-flawed roster and the executives who assembled it." "Iverson's a winner for not making excuses for loss," by Ian O'Connor, USA Today, August 27, 2004.)
Posted at 09:15 AM · Comments (0) · Categories: Stupidity
November 21, 2005
BREAKING NEWS! Burger King makes its burgers from ...
COWS!
The (London) Telegraph reports:
An advert featuring a cow wearing a Burger King logo has provoked more than 70 complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has said.The industry watchdog has launched an investigation after viewers said that the commercial was distasteful and cruel.
It shows a cow walking along in a field wearing a Burger King-branded blanket.
"Burger King advert 'offensive to cows'," news.telegraph, November 17, 2005
AdJab responds:
I guess Burger King's only recourse is to make a commercial where they explain that hamburgers don't actually come from cattle, but are actually brought here in giant bags carried by storks.
"Burger King's burgers are made from cows," AdJab, November 19, 2005
As Homer Simpson might say, "Mmmmmmmmmm, hamburgers in giant bags carried by storks...." or more likely, "Mmmmmmmmmm, giant hamburgers in bags carried by storks...."
But what is all this "not wanting to cause offence" stuff? First it was lids on ice cream, then Piglet from Winnie the Pooh, and now cows ... what's next?
I thought the English were the folks with the stiff upper lip and all that, but they're starting to seem a bit of a thin-skinned lot to me ... sounds like they could use Panexa ...
Reminds me of something Chuck Williams wrote:
I agree that everyone has a First Amendment right to Piss on Christ and Dung on the Holy Virgin to their hearts' content.All I'm saying is that it does raise the question of why. Well, it does to some of us Catholics, anyway. And it's not a particularly shallow question, I don't think. I mean, if you know that what you're doing will insult somebody and you go ahead and do it anyway, it seems to me you'd expect that one or two of those somebodies might eventually demand an explanation.
But as far as I can tell, the museum's answer to that and every other reasonable question has been, "Shut up."
And then, even if the "why" is answered, even if the museum board or some brainy critic can explain how the artist has an avant-garde reason for insulting my religion (I'm not saying he doesn't), and even if he has a solid First Amendment right to insult my religion (and I'm saying he does), why must the board's supporters act shocked and appalled when I then say well, OK, but I still don't think you should use the government to force Catholics to pay the board to insult us. And it is brute force we're talking about here: if you don't pay your taxes, you go to jail.
The appropriate answer to would-be censors is to say, "if you don't like it, don't look at it." Or just don't read it, or just don't listen to it. The reason that retort doesn't work here is that the Catholic guy isn't complaining that anybody's forcing Catholics to look at Dung on the Virgin. He's complaining that Catholics are being forced to pay for it. He's saying, go ahead and Dung on the Virgin anywhere you like. Just do it on your own dime, or on your fellow Catholic-bashers' dime. Just don't do it on the taxpayers' dime.
Offence, shmoffence ... offend away ... just don't force me to look at it or hear it or make me pay for it ... if I don't like something your business does, I stay away ... or organize a girlcott ...
Also, be sure to see "If you're hosting Thanksgiving, make sure your guests sign this"
Posted at 08:06 AM · Comments (0) · Categories: Stupidity
November 16, 2005
She's so brave
came across a story on Sarah Silverman, a female comic famous for swearing and "breaking taboos." Because, as you know, we have so many taboos, and the penalties for breaking them are so severe. The article talks about the "disconnect between her feminine beauty and the decidedly unfeminine spew that comes out of her pretty mouth." According to this article, this includes "the final gag in 'Jesus is Magic,' when she comes on stage for an encore and sings 'Amazing Grace' in three-part harmony with her butt and her vagina."
"Later," by James Lileks, The Bleat, November 16, 2005
Oooooooooooo, she's so brave, like that guy who puts a crucifix in a bottle filled with urine. She ought to try a show called "Mohammed is Magic" and show us how "brave" she is. And then Entertainment Weekly could run a fawning story showing us how brave it is, too.
Or, she could really show us bravery and do a show about the Amish, or the Friends ... Sarah Silverman, so funny and so brave ...
Posted at 06:20 AM · Comments (0) · Categories: Stupidity
November 06, 2005
"You Have To Break A Few Humans To Prevent An Omelette"
Incredible ...
Dafydd at Big Lizards notes this Robert Novak column blurb about an exchange regarding ecoterrorism at the US Senate last week. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) interrogated ecological activist Dr. Jerry Vlasak about the aims of the radical environmental movement. Novak has the key, chilling exchange that reveals the utter lack of perspective that produces ecoterrorists:Dr. Jerry Vlasak of North American Animal Liberation was quoted as saying at an animal rights convention: "I don't think you'd have to kill, assassinate too many. I think for five lives, 10 lives, 15 human lives, we could save a million, 2 million, or 10 million non-human lives."
Questioned by Inhofe whether he was "advocating the murder of individuals," Vlasak replied: "I made that statement, and I stand by that statement."
That, however, gives only part of the story. Americans for Medical Progress has more of the transcript, which oddly does not appear readily accessible on the Senate's website. (Animal Crackers has the entire exchange archived, along with pungent and dead-on commentary.) Inhofe only got the ball rolling. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) becomes more and more disgusted with Vlasak as the hearing progresses, finally demanding that the witness be removed from his presence. But first, Inhofe makes sure that Vlasak hasn't been misunderstood:
Read the whole incredible thing ... "You Have To Break A Few Humans To Prevent An Omelette," Captain's Quarters, November 6, 2005
Posted at 12:58 PM · Comments (1) · Categories: Crime , Ignorance , Nihilism , Stupidity , Terrorism
Pitbulls :: Porcupines & 7-11 Burritos
Common element in these stories = pitbull ...
Snopes says these photographs and the accompanying story are true ... I admit I don't particularly like pitbulls ... my taste runs towards collie/shepard mutts, standard poodles, German shepards, and Yorkies ... my impression is that pitbulls are tenacious ... now I will add "and stupid" ... no pics of the porcupine were provided ...
Inca apparently did not know when to quit when she encountered the porcupine on Victoria Day, May 23rd. These are the pictures the vet sent before the long (and expensive) procedure to remove the quills. She had thousands of quills, and her tongue was so covered, she could not close her mouth.
"Dog vs. Porcupine," Snopes, July 25, 2005
via Neddy's Palaver
And here's another story with a pitbull in it ... "Police: Burrito Sparks 7-Eleven Fight: Girl Allegedly Releases Pit Bull On Attackers" ... Ai yi yi yi yi ... proof that merely wanting to eat 7-11 burritos will turn you into an idiot ...
via Moonbat Monitor
Update:
A commenter points out, "The dog with the porcupine quills is not an American Pit Bull Terrier; the dog in the picture is a Bull Terrier, a tenacious breed as well; but most certainly not a 'pitbull'." Thanks for the correction. (Looks like Snopes got it wrong, too.)
Posted at 09:18 AM · Comments (2) · Categories: Stupidity
October 23, 2005
"Christianity was established in Iraq 1,300 years before Henry VIII separated the Church of England from Rome"
Christianity is not some recent Western import whose proselytizing activities are causing resentment among traditional Muslims. Christianity was established in Iraq 500 years before Britain converted and 1,300 years before Henry VIII separated the Church of England from Rome. Pre-Islamic Iraq was actually predominantly Jewish and Christian. They were reduced to a minority by their conquerors entirely without reference to the West. Yet so strong is the idea of the West speaking for Christianity that "Church of England bishops are calling for Christian leaders to apologize publicly, at a gathering attended by senior Muslims, for the war in Iraq", without a trace of self-conciousness. The call was contained in a 101 page report prepared by the bishops.In a preface, one of the four authors, Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries, writes that for many people in the world today, "It is not terrorism, but American foreign policy and what they perceive as American expansionism which constitutes the major threat to peace." Like all major powers in history, he says, America seeks to expand economic, political and military influence. "What distinguishes it from many other empires in history is its strong sense of moral righteousness. In this there is both sincere conviction and dangerous illusion," Harries says. "This sense of moral righteousness is fed by the major influence of the 'Christian Right' on present United States policy."
Within this ostensibly progressive message is a remarkably Edwardian conceit: one which might do justice to a Viceroy of India; the assumption that individuals like Bishop Richard Harries can authoritatively frame the Iraqi debate from the central perspective of a European Christianity. This is probably why the Copts are at pains to emphasize that they are "indigenous" and "pre-Arab". They are fighting for a faith which Western church leaders have no authority to surrender.
"Ex Oriente Lux," The Belmont Club, October 23, 2005
Posted at 02:56 PM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Nihilism , Stupidity
October 16, 2005
Nobel Prize for ... blindness
The United States may not be their Great Satan, but it’s the devil they know. The bureaucrats and the EU anointed are the priesthood - and the Nobel peace prize is the means of bestowing sainthood.Which brings us to its latest recipient: ol’ see-no-evil Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. This is like giving the Surgeon General the Nobel Price for medicine after bird flu depopulates the North American continent. Let’s look at his highlight reel:
Completely whiffed the Libyan nuke program. Failed to notice that Iran had a secret nuclear program going for a fifth of a century. (You can hardly blame them – it was secret, after all. I mean, it’s not like you can barge in and say “what’s all this, then?”) The IAEA also didn’t have a clue about A. Q. Khan, the wannabe Bond villain who ran a nuclear Wal-Mart for rogue states. ElBaradei would have been better off sending Mr. Magoo to ferret out Khan’s network; at least Magoo would have tripped over something.
"Anagram: A Bad Lie, Arab Elide," by James Lileks, October 12, 2005
Posted at 06:53 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
October 15, 2005
"TIME Sanitizes Farrakhan"
Just when you thought that this old, wretched bigot had slithered away for good, the noxious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan is back, courtesy of TIME Online, in an item posted tonight.As befits the end of the baseball season, it seems to be softball time at TIME, with the magazine's brain-dead editors lobbing softball after softball at the double-talking Farrakan, with the latter eagerly portraying himself as misunderstood and as meek as a lamb.
"TIME Sanitizes Farrakhan," Mediacrity, October 14, 2005
Posted at 12:24 PM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
October 14, 2005
"Bloggers 'Probably Not' Considered Journos"
Bloggers would "probably not" be considered journalists under the proposed federal shield law, the bill's co-sponsor, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.), told the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) Monday afternoon.Lugar emphasized, however, that debate is not yet closed on how to define a journalist under the proposed law.
"As to who is a reporter, this will be a subject of debate as this bill goes farther along," he said in response to a question from Washington Post Deputy Managing Editor Milton Coleman. "Are bloggers journalists or some of the commercial businesses that you here would probably not consider real journalists? Probably not, but how do you determine who will be included in this bill?"
The bill is necessary to help the United States regain its status as an "exemplar" of press freedom, Lugar told the IAPA. "Even as we are advocating for free press (abroad)... we'd better clean up our own act," Lugar said.
"Shield Law Sponsor: Bloggers 'Probably Not' Considered Journos," by Mark Fitzgerald, Editor & Publisher, October 12, 2005
No word about freedom of speech ...
Posted at 07:05 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
October 13, 2005
Capitalism is destroying the world
What caused the Pakistan earthquakes? If you trust Venezuela’s Castro-wannabe Hugo Chavez, it was the free market. Adam Smith’s invisible hand, flipping mankind the bird. The "world global capitalist model,” Chavez insisted, “… is destroying the world. The world is in danger. Never has there been such disasters, hurricanes, droughts, torrential rains. Incredible! The world is dangerously off balance."
"Anagram: A Bad Lie, Arab Elide," by James Lileks, October 12, 2005
Posted at 06:52 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
October 10, 2005
Sandy Berger as the voice of integrity. Uh huh...
When the convicted burglar of classified material is set forth on a long-running television network news program as the voice of integrity, you know the level of contempt that the network has for the American public.
"Kick Me," baldilocks, October 10, 2005
Posted at 05:05 PM · Categories: Stupidity
October 08, 2005
Utopia Will Result If We Would Just Listen to Our Betters and Get Out of Iraq ...
British journalists Robert Fisk, John Pilger, and Tariq Ali, along with British MP George Galloway, and, on the other side of the Atlantic, commentators such as Naomi Klein have all essentially blamed Britain and the United States for bringing the attacks upon themselves. While being careful to denounce the bombers and their agenda, these advocates uttered variations on the same theme: get out of Iraq, bring home the troops from all points east, curtail support for Israel, develop a more sensible, non-oil-based energy policy, and our troubles would dissipate in the wind.
[U]nlike traditional “third-world” liberation movements looking for a bit of peace and quiet in which to nurture embryonic states, al-Qaida is classically imperialist, looking to subvert established social orders and to replace the cultural and institutional infrastructure of its enemies with a (divinely inspired) hierarchical autocracy of its own, looking to craft the next chapter of human history in its own image.
"Whose al-Qaida problem?" by Sasha Abramsky, openDemocracy, October 4, 2005
Posted at 07:52 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
September 30, 2005
"5 Iraqi Anglican Church Leaders Missing, Presumed Dead"
Ten days ago, several of the Bishops of the Church of England published a proposal for the leaders of the Anglican church in Britain to get together and apologise on behalf of their nation for the Iraq war.
In the report, the bishops plead for more “understanding” of what motivates terrorists. They criticise Western democracies as “deeply flawed” and accuse the US of dangerous expansionism. The bishops, who strongly opposed the war in Iraq, want Christian leaders to express their repentance in an “act of truth and reconciliation” for the West’s contribution to the problems in Iraq.In a horrible error of timing, it now turns out just days before they published their proposal, that the entire lay leadership team of the main Anglican church in Iraq disappeared, and are now presumed dead, after failing to returned from a church conference in Jordan.
"5 Iraqi Anglican Church Leaders Missing, Presumed Dead," Kesher Talk, September 29, 2005
We're sorry you had to kill those Iraqi Anglicans ...
Ai yi yi yi yi ...
Posted at 12:17 PM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
September 27, 2005
Who the hell does he think he is not watching us?
Just because the president doesn't watch you on television, it doesn't mean he's not doing his job. You know, Franklin Roosevelt wasn't hired to listen to radio accounts of D-Day. You're hired to do the job, and the president can do his job without having to listen to Chris Matthews or Andrea Mitchell or Tim Russert, or any of the others.Rep. Peter King (R-NY), to Chris Matthews on Hardball, transcript, radio blogger, September 26, 2005, "Just because the president doesn't watch you on television, it doesn't mean he's not doing his job." (with links to video clips)
Posted at 06:00 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Stupidity
September 18, 2005
Instant hajib!
Jihad Watch has an interesting post about the use of PhotoShop to ... add head coverings to women in photographs ... "Stalinism at CAIR: photo doctored for Islamic correctness" ... instant hajib! ...
Posted at 07:06 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Gynephobes , Stupidity
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.
Posted at 05:58 AM · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Ay Caramba! , Stupidity