Melting Pot Hegemony

Mark Steyn:

My previous book was famously “alarmist” (and so no doubt is my new one), but, if you’re disinclined to meet me halfway in my demographic analysis, try the United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics:

He then quotes not the UK's Office of National Statistics but a nitwit named Damian Thompson writing for the Torygraph whose reading of the ONS statistics must have resulted in many filled diapers. Steyn ends:

For my own part, I’d bet that many parts of mid-century Britain will be a violent, brutish, Balkanized ruin. Let’s meet for lunch circa 2035 and see who’s right.

Now, the funny part is that Steyn excerpted a bunch of the panic from Thompson's column, but not the salient comparison:

The colour of people’s skins isn’t the problem, of course. The danger lies in a clash of ethnic and religious cultures against a background of broken families. London is already well on the way to turning into a US city, with sprawling black ghettos and a semi-invisible network of foreign white gangs: organised crime from Eastern Europe, one of the most powerful forces in the world today, has only just begun to flex its muscles in Britain.

Surely nobody in their right mind would want their city to be a US city, where meeting for lunch even now is impossible.

Doo Doo Doo

The Lovely Daughter: What's a bee's favourite rapper?
Me: I dunno.
LD: Buzz Markie.

A Message from Ron Paul

Here is an email to me, a fellow conservative, outlining Ron Paul's plan to destroy everything. It's nice that he wants to destroy the occasional bad thing, like kooky war efforts, but if you're gonna destroy everything I guess you get to destroy some of those along with, you know, everything else in the world. I'd take out all the links but it isn't worth the editing, and really, this is just note-taking on my part so I remember the bullshit as it plays out across the glorious internet. My apologies.

Who will you pick?

Dear Fellow Conservative,

Right now, you have a choice to make. Who will you pick to take on Barack Obama and end the liberal, tax-and-spend stranglehold on Washington?

You can choose a Republican who fought for state-run health care while Governor, but now laughingly claims to want to repeal ObamaCare.

You can choose a candidate who cosponsored a bill to forcibly unionize government workers nationwide by federal mandate - but now wants to claim the mantle of "Tea Party" champion.

You can choose a Governor who has been on record in favor of taxpayer subsidies for illegal immigrants and has doubled his state's debt.

Or you can choose the one candidate in the race who can honestly say that he is a lifelong, true, pro-life, pro-gun, constitutional conservative.

They say people can tell the real deal when they hear it. I sure hope so, because that's what I am.

If you agree with my vision for America's future when you finish this note, I hope you'll support me at this crucial time in the race. Our campaign is surging. We are in the top 3 nationwide, and we cruised to a very strong 2nd place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll.



The establishment is doing its best to make sure you don't hear about my record and views, so I want to take a moment to tell you what I stand for. And I want to do it in a personal letter to you, rather than in a slick 30-second ad, or a minute on TV in a "debate."

You see, I firmly believe that the more you know about me, the more you'll realize there really is only one true constitutional conservative candidate for President this year.

I believe that the federal government should not be doing ANYTHING that is not specifically authorized by and enumerated in the Constitution.

You might hear some other folks say something that sounds like that. But look at the record.

I am the only candidate in the race who can say that they have NEVER voted for an unbalanced budget. Ever. And I will never sign one as President.

I have never voted to raise the debt ceiling. And I won't sign a debt ceiling increase as President.

There's a lot to learn about candidates on the issues. As President, my priorities would be:

*** Balancing the federal budget and ending deficit spending. I've earned the nickname "Dr. No" as a U.S. Congressman for voting AGAINST wasteful federal spending. I plan on earning the nickname "President No" for continuing that tradition!

*** Protecting the lives of the unborn. As a pro-life OB-GYN, I delivered over 4,000 babies. And I've always believed that life begins at conception. It is the duty of government to protect life, and I will vote to end abortion and stop all federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

*** Protecting the 2nd Amendment. I've been endorsed in my campaigns by the Gun Owners of America, and I believe there can be NO compromise on gun rights.

*** Securing our Borders. You can't have open borders and a welfare state. I'll fight against any amnesty and National ID schemes, and I'll champion real solutions that protect our nation and uphold the rule of law.

*** Protecting our national security AND our sovereignty. I will stop using our brave soldiers as the world's policemen, and I will end nation-building overseas so we can focus on rebuilding our own nation. I'll pull us OUT of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and other international, sovereignty-destroying organizations that work against our nation's interests.

That's just the beginning. But it's a good beginning. And the best part - you will always know where President Ron Paul stands. It will be with the American people and the Constitution.

Governor Rick Perry of my home state of Texas, on the other hand, has expanded the size and scope of government in ways that would make Washington, D.C. proud. He has doubled Texas' debt. We now have more debt per capita than California!

I suppose these days that would be in style back in Washington. But I think we are all FINALLY ready for real change - not more of the same!

Other candidates have little or no record. That's fine. I don't think it's a requirement for office that you have to accumulate years of fighting and leading.

But it certainly helps.

You see, the best way to figure out what a candidate will do in office isn't to listen to what they say during a campaign. The best way is to look at their record. Look at what they've done. Look at who has been a leader on issues of importance across the board to conservatives.

I believe that if you look at who has led the way on budgets, in defense of the unborn, and for gun rights, as well as who has fought the longest and hardest against the political establishment of BOTH parties - well, I hope you'll see that the only answer is Ron Paul.



If you need more information, please visit my website at www.RonPaul2012.com.

If you agree with me that we must take action now to restore America, please consider giving me not only your vote, but your financial support as well.

The establishment has its DC lobbyists and corporate fat cats. For me to succeed, I must raise funds from millions of grassroots Americans just like you.

Perhaps you can give $500, $250, or $100. Perhaps $25 is as much as you can send right now. Every dollar is appreciated and will be used to advance my fight for liberty!

So please, check the real records of each of the candidates. Decide for yourself which one has always stood for smaller government, personal liberty, and the right to life.

Take the time to talk to your friends, family, and relatives. Take a look at what the other candidates are telling you - and what they're trying NOT to tell you.

I hope and pray you'll choose to support my campaign for President.

It's time to take our country back. Please join with me today.

For Liberty,
Ron Paul

P.S. If you'd like to support my campaign, please complete the pledge and chip in a generous contribution. I'd appreciate your support.

But most important, I ask you to take a look at the issues that matter to you. Then take a look at the real record of each of the candidates who are asking for your vote. Don't let the media tell you how to vote. Vote for the person who best represents constitutional conservative principles and real values.

I believe you'll find that candidate to be me, and I hope I will have your vote for the Republican nomination for President.

Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades

Prophecy:



Fulfillment:

History's Greatest MacGuffin

What makes a great film?

You’ll never hear me make any apologies for my unqualified love of this film. It’s just a fact (admit it) that when you’re in the right mood and have three-hours to kill, Brian DePalma’s completely over-the-top gangster pic feels like the greatest movie ever made. Among my perversely large DVD collection (yes, I have a problem), “Scarface” ranks in the Top 10 Most Re-watchable.

For me, the movie takes off during the chainsaw scene; when a handcuffed Tony Montana (Al Pacino) is splattered with gore as his partner is cut to pieces. He refuses to talk, even when faced with the most gruesome death imaginable. The look of defiance and fear on the actor’s face is unforgettable. Furthermore, DePalma’s crafting of the scene is masterful. The director is famous for exploitation and yet he chooses not to show the chainsaw doing its dirty work. You only hear it, which allows your mind’s eye to vividly picture what’s far worse than anything any special effect could cheat.

Best of all, everything that happens is Jimmy Carter’s fault. He’s the idiot who got duped by Castro and let Tony Montana into Miami.

Yes of course that is John Nolte.

Signs of New York

Congress

Totally-not-gay Eugene Delgaudio in an email to yours truly:

Yes, it's true, homosexual activists are riding high.

Homosexual "marriage" passed in New York; judges in Iowa threw out two hundred years of law and declared for homosexual marriage by fiat; a judge in California denies the vote of the people and declares homosexual marriage a "right"; and every day the drumbeat from the media and Hollywood culture is how good and normal homosexual sex is ... and how you and I are bigoted fools blinded by a false religion.

Now homosexual activists bang through the halls of Congress chortling with glee.

Dear Penthouse Forum:

I never thought having sex in the halls of Congress would happen to me and it won't as long as I am here in this closet. Please send more stories about first-time cocksucking.

(Apparently you can find the whole thing here. Myself, I am not clicking.)

My Glamorous Life of Travel

I am now in lovely Toronto, home to a hockey team with a legacy of having a legacy.

Time spent here has involved helping organize an apartment and a visit to the AGO (where locals I don't have free time to get drunk with should RUN RUN RUN to catch the General Idea exhibit). Also there is ice cream. Beats the vegemite.



And gee... Palin's supporters say Palin will run. There might be something to learn about fools and money there but I gotta go get that one Pokémon outta that vending machine and it's just not dropping so I keep feeding the coins in and WHY WON'T IT COME OUT? Back later.

FOOT FETISH UPDATE!

I don't think this is quite the same piece as the one I saw at the AGO, but here is Ann Klein with a Baby in Transit by Willie Cole.

I Liked It

Disappointingly there was no mention of the JanusNode.

But the movie with the apes was good. What was that called?

Murderers

Crime in the big city my friends. THIS is why you want to live in a little town full of bible-thumpers panty-sniffers and sheep-fuckers.

Entertainment

Bullshit?

"I have three women as sources who had sex with Rick Perry or have escort friends who have," he says. "The first one is a stripper who tried to give him a blow job one time 'but he was too coked up' (her words) to complete it. None of these are willing to come forward, hence the ad is an appeal for strippers, hookers, young hotties and gay men to QUIT covering for Rick Perry. I got a call from an incensed homosexual on Monday who told me his ex's ex had sex with (a gay fling) Rick Perry many years ago. I sent him to a reporter who is working the gay angle. The gay rumors on Perry have been rampant for years. I never believed the because I knew about the women. I believe them now. Rick Perry has been a RAMPANT bisexual adulterer. It is just a matter of getting folks to go on the record."

It is irresponsible not to speculate. Has anyone checked the diving shops for wetsuit purchases?

If You Build It, They Will Come to the Conclusion that Beach Volleyball Sucks

I find when I am playing beach volleyball with the gang from Riverdale that running into a fucking light-post is the highlight of the day.

Yes yes, travel photos are dull. Yet I travel and take photos.

Note to Smut

Nobody wants their dinner party described as "tentacular".

Decay and Decadence in Empire

Yes, fellow scolds and pearl-clutchers, in New York City people DRINK WITH BABIES. The advantage of the Kinderbiergarten being that if you are drunk and spoiling for a fight - the little bastard ordered a glass of milk and I laughed in his face - you can take everybody in the place.

Also the beer below tastes like bacon.



Thanks to N__B and the Big Bad Bald Bastard for a fine playtime.

The Savages

It's a never-ending succession of dicks at Big Hollywood:

The Irish gentlemen, Jonathan Swift, once penned a scathing pamphlet in reaction to political and economical conditions in Ireland due to English policies. His satirical essay, “A Modest Proposal” reached outlandish proportions when he recommended that society make use of beggar and bastard children by eating them. It was a political and economical “solution.” Mothers would have incentive to care for their children and take a pass on abortions because of economic gain their children’s flesh would bring. Crime would go down because unwanted children would no longer roam the streets. Instead, they would be put to use by feeding the rich. Lastly, society as a whole would benefit from the emerging market.

The absurdity of his proposal was the point: “For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public as a part of the Martel-Harper Challenge.”

In Swift’s time, the average person in Ireland was poor and destitute, children were unwanted and a lot of pregnancies ended in barbaric abortions. Petty crime and thievery and moral decay was rampant due to the existing circumstances that forced children and adolescents to fend for themselves. The wealthy nobility languished over the sorry state of affairs, but only offered criticism and scorn for the savages instead of reform to help aid their condition.

Further on in the column we learn that Glenn Reynolds is just like Swift for proposing that industries that fund Democrats take tax increases.

The Pork Store

Okay, Jokey McJokester, You've Had Your Fun

A Lesson

Message to the bats: if you want to paint tits, just paint tits.

Here in Lovely NY

I have to say insects in Vancouver are politely quiet. Must be the dope.

That Guy in the Seat Behind You Who Won't Shut the Fuck Up

Walrus Todd Huston:

Remember back in the early 1960s when blacks could get any job they wanted in the American airline industry? Oh, and remember back then how no one smoked cuz it was really, really bad for you and stuff? Yeah. No one else does, either. Well, maybe not no one. Big Three Network ABC seems to remember it because that is how they are envisaging how the world worked back in 1963 for its new TV series about airline stewardesses entitled “Pan Am.”

In yet another example of Hollywood PCism run amok, producers, we are told, “admitted” that studio execs at ABC-Disney nixed any chance that the show’s characters or extras would be smoking during the series even though the historical fact is that the bulk of the adult population of 1960s America smoked.

EVEN WORSE!

That isn’t the only whitewashing going on either — literally. There is a worse disconnection from our history that is happening on this show. The series also intends to feature black employees as stewardesses (at least if not in other positions as the series goes forward) and that is also an historical fantasy.

IT IS AN HISTORICAL FANTASY!

Now, we all wish that history was different in many instances. I am sure that Jews everywhere would love it if the Holocaust had never occurred. So would the rest of us. But the fact is that it did. Pretending that the vexing things from history did not happen is a childish game of avoiding truth.

And when has Hollywood ever been about pretending?

Good Talk

Telepathic Ed has a picture-perfect old-man rant. No excerpting, it's too good as one block of prose poetry.

Direct Pressure

Ouch:

CHANDLER, Ariz. — As Joshua Seto, 27, and his fiance, Cara Christopher, walked to a local grocery store last week for refreshments, he tried securing her pink handgun in the front waistband of his pants.

The gun fired, striking Seto's penis and continuing through his left thigh. The bleeding started immediately and was heavy, according to police dispatch recordings released Sunday.

"He is still conscious, there is just a lot of blood," Christopher, 26, told 911 operators and dispatchers when the accidental shooting occurred Tuesday.

One operator told Christopher to apply direct pressure to the wound with a dry towel or T-shirt, but to avoid looking at the wound.

There's a hole in my penis
Dear Cara dear Cara
There's a hole in my penis
Dear Cara a hole.

I mean, like, a new one.

Point and Counterpoint

An exchange over at the Jerusalem Post:

Caroline Glick:

Another aspect of the same anti-liberal behavior is the tendency by many to pick and choose which sorts of terrorism are acceptable and which are unacceptable, in accordance with the ideological justifications the terrorists give for their actions. The most recent notable example of this behavior is an interview that Norwegian Ambassador Svein Sevje gave to Ma’ariv on Tuesday.

Ma’ariv asked Sevje whether in the wake of Breivik’s terrorist attack Norwegians would be more sympathetic to the victimization of innocent Israelis by Palestinian terrorists.

Sevje said no, and explained, “We Norwegians view the occupation as the reason for terror against Israel. Many Norwegians still see the occupation as the reason for attacks against Israel. Whoever thinks this way, will not change his mind as a result of the attack in Oslo.”

So in the mind of the illiberal Norwegians, terrorism is justified if the ideology behind it is considered justified. For them it is unacceptable for Breivik to murder Norwegian children, because his ideology is wrong. But it is acceptable for Palestinians to murder Israeli children, because their ideology is right.

Barry Rubin:

One of the most sensitive aspects of the murderous terrorist attack in Norway by a right-wing gunman is this irony: The youth camp he attacked was engaged in what was essentially (though the campers didn’t see it that way, no doubt) a pro-terrorist program.

Norway's deputy foreign minister Espen Barth Eide responds to Glick and Rubin:

The suggestion that Norway would condone or promote terrorism, particularly in the direct aftermath of this terrible attack, is both incorrect and disappointing.

We will continue to meet statements that we disagree with in a spirit of democratic tolerance and openness, and we will continue to defend the right of The Jerusalem Post and its columnists to hold different view to ours. But we cannot deny that statements like those I have referred to have dismayed us, particularly at the present time.

Caroline Glick defends with offence:

Since my column was a defense of free speech and a general explanation of why terrorism is antithetical to the foundations of liberal democracy – regardless of its ideological motivations – I did not focus my attention on Norwegian society. I did not discuss Norwegian anti- Semitism or anti-Zionism. Indeed, I purposely ignored these issues.

But when on Friday, Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide published an unjustified attack on me on these pages, he forced me to take the time to study the intellectual and political climate of hatred towards Israel and Jews that pervades Norwegian society.

That climate is not a contemporary development.

Rather it has been a mainstay of Norwegian society.

Barry Rubin's turn:

Essentially, the position of Norway’s media and government is this: Hamas isn’t terrorist, but I’m pro-terrorist.

I should have titled this "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

I Blame Both Sides

Hope for change:



Rational actors:



--

OT a liberated comment from DKW on an earlier post about medical writing should have gotten a look when it was current.

Improvisation

The Wikipedia has all sorts of amusements:

[Robert] Plant, known generally for his improvisation while performing live, would ad lib during live performances of "Kashmir". He would add in "sweet mama", "slowly dyin'", "now just a minute", "sweet darlin'", and he would stutter the words "baby" and "mama". He would also end that section with "there's no denyin'" and "Woman, talkin' to ya!"

Harry Potter: Conservative

Of course he is! Everything good is conservative, unless some filthy hippie has it - or maybe an Iranian - in which case it is bad. Apart from the usual heroes-are-good-villains-are-bad-means-it's-conservative nonsense, look here:

• Belief in Traditional Families. The series repeatedly stresses the importance of the traditional family. Harry’s mother and father died to protect him, and in so doing, put a charm on him, which protects him so long as he has family, even nasty family like his uncle and aunt. The happiest people in the series are the Weasley family, who impart invaluable lessons about love, responsibility and all the other things conservatives want parents to teach their kids. By comparison, the messed up kids, from Neville Longbottom to Luna Lovegood, come from single parent homes (though they rise above their problems — another conservative theme). Similarly, Malfoy and Dudley, who have complete families, are taught the wrong lessons. Malfoy’s family is loveless and spiteful. Dudley’s family is over- indulgent and selfish. Consequently, Dudley and Malfoy became really messed up. The implication is clear throughout the book: a strong family is the best foundation. Love your parents, love your kids, and teach the right values. Indeed, the greatest moments in the book involve self-sacrifice to save family members.

That's right, the traditional family is best except when it's not and the non-traditional family is worst except that good children come out of them. Conservatism triumphs again!

So Lonely

Conrad Black:

From my most recent NRO article, on a couple of stars in the conservative firmament: “There is nothing like Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham in other countries, nor much like them in this one. The packaging is leggy women with bright teeth and eyes and lots of blond hair, and they are charming, though not demure. The message is God, Christ, learning, and country. They are outstanding bearers of that timeless message that has reprehensibly few public champions, certainly not including the incumbent president.”

Conrad, you're not due back in stir until September. Barbara not putting out?

Hey, his son is a shithead too.

More Black humour:

When he first arrived in prison, Conrad Black befriended a Mafia don. ‘It was obvious from the way the prison officers stood back from him that he was an eminent figure,’ explains the disgraced peer.

‘He told me, “No one will bother you. If you catch a cold, we’ll find out who you got it from.”

‘Then he offered me whisky and a cell phone, both of which were banned in prison. I said: “I am at war with the U.S. government, but I want to do things through legal channels …”

Shrunken: Conrad Black seems a pale version of himself after spending time in prison, right, in comparison to 2007 when he's seen entering court, left

‘Despite frequent searches, there was constant stealing and smuggling. This is a great country, but when they’ve finished singing Sweet Land Of Liberty and eating apple pie, it’s a bit of a jungle — which is part of its attraction.’

[...]

Explaining how he helped fellow inmates, he adds: ‘I am not by nature a bleeding heart, but their stories were affecting and it was fulfilling to strategise what they needed to do to pass exams. If they couldn’t spell, I would get them Hemingway’s short stories from the library. I showed them simple sentences, such as “I shot the elephant …”.’

Black held English classes for prisoners during the day, insisting his pupils obeyed two simple rules: ‘Don’t interrupt the others; and don’t treat me like part of the prison regime, because I hate the regime, too.’

For some reason I will add more. Here's Black on News Corporation:

As I have written elsewhere, the most nauseating aspect of the News Corporation telephone- and email-hacking imbroglio, until recently, has been watching the self-righteous hypocrites in the British establishment who grovelled to Rupert Murdoch for decades now piously demanding that he pull up his ethical corporate socks. It has been no secret how News Corporation was operated for decades. It is a nasty, vulgar, cynical, dirty-laundry operation that has reduced standards of public taste and decency on at least four continents for decades. The only quality product it has ever touched that did not wither in its hands was The Wall Street Journal.

What a spectacular kook.

Here Come Cowboys

Hi Deanna Murray!

Ed. Note: Please make Deanna feel welcome here at Big Hollywood. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a beautiful relationship. –JN

Well okay then. Whaddaya got?

When you discover you just spent more than $10 to see pretty much the worst movie EVER made, can anything give you comfort?

I didn’t think so ... especially when my mind started wandering about 15 minutes into ‘Cowboys and Aliens’ and the thrill of seeing Daniel Craig in chaps had worn off...

Frankly I welcome masturbation endorsement as the Surgeon General says it's cool. Anything else? There are a lot of pixels to use up.

This ridiculously asinine excuse for a movie (thank you, Stephan Spielberg) about aliens stealing town folk from an old west mining town to ‘see how they tick’ so they could annihilate the human race, started to become a perfectly normal paradigm of how the left is infiltrating every aspect of our lives. And in case you hadn’t figured it out yet ... the left are the aliens and us red-blooded conservatives are the cowboys.

My god! That is so much like ME I can't believe it! I mean, look:

Basically, in the sandstone hills and mountains of what looks like Texas or New Mexico, the aliens have imbedded this colossally large space ship underground and it sticks up out of the ground like a tower (and totally doesn’t blend in, btw).

The aliens, on occasion, swoop into town in their metal spaceships and throw out these rope lassos from the sky and round up people, pulling them bungee cord style behind their spaceships.

Once aboard the mothership, the townspeople are forced to stare into the light for some sort of brainwashing before being dissected by the brutally disgusting aliens whose hands come out of their chests in this terriblby grotesque manner.

This describes last the last Tuesday of the month, affectionately known here as Terriblby Tuesday. You'd think the dissection would be the fun part, but that light is SO COOL.

Collaborative Research

Academics should understand it's fraud to sign off on PR:

It's fraudulent for academics to give their names to medical articles ghostwritten by pharmaceutical industry writers, say two Canadian law professors who call for potential legal sanctions.

Studies suggest that industry-driven drug trials and industry-sponsored publications are more likely to downplay a drug's harms and exaggerate a drug's virtues, said Trudo Lemmens, a law professor at the University of Toronto. The integrity of medical research is also harmed by ghostwritten articles, he said.

As always, there is room for compromise:

Linda Logdberg of Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta wrote a second commentary. Logdberg worked in the medical communication industry for 11 years, and she offered her personal view of her work and why she did it.

Logdberg proposes eliminating the middlemen between drug companies and doctors by having pharmaceutical companies employ medical writers to work directly with researchers. The pharmaceutical company's role would be limited to fact-checking and related topics, meaning drug promotion would still happen, but would be in the hands of advertising agencies alone.

THAT WILL FIX IT.

Defective Products

Hooray! A Happy Meal™!







This is possibly the unhappiest meal since the Death Wish 3 promotion.

And no wonder he's panicky since he is a COMMUNIST and people are ON TO HIM.

The Brewmaster's Task

Not only do you have to carefully measure out, blend and brew a mix of barley malt, rice, water, hops, yeast, tomato juice, salt, lime, and clam broth to create the finest pre-vomited beverage idiots will drink when other options are unavailable, but again you must use your wizardry to readjust the balance of these nine already perfectly matched ingredients to, let's say, empotion a lighter version for the slightly sharper mental deficients with the blessed awareness to realize they are too fat for that first drink.

Unity in Finger-Pointing

What is more satisfying than having fluff news confirm your prejudices?

Vancouver-based testing firm AptiQuant Psychometric recently polled more than 100,000 English-speaking adults in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australasia. They were asked what version of browser they used, then asked to take a standard IQ test.

The results: People who use Opera are most likely brainiacs; those who prefer Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Camino are, while not exactly Einstein, still smarter than your average bear; and those who use any flavor of Internet Explorer probably could not find their mouse with both hands and need help tying their shoes.

To Hell In a Slightly Cushier Handbasket

Hey, this is some good news:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced sweeping new guidelines for women's health care which will change everything from distribution of birth control pills to administration of breast exams -- and will mean insured women will no longer pay anything out of their own pocket.

Beginning Aug. 1, 2012, all private insurance plans will be required to cover women's preventive services without a co-pay or deductible. The move is intended to help women have the chance to stop health problems before they start.

A Portrait of the Lovely Daughter as Bulbasaur

Upping the Pokémon hits.

Art by Toni Zhang in a rush at Mini Comi which entertained the aforementioned daughterly unit.

Is Sarah Palin Running for Anything?

Michael Moriarty, writing some from unreachable dimension:

My own personal and enjoyable interests in the Arts were whetted by the dissident histories of some of Russia’s greatest talents: composer Igor Stravinsky and ballet greats, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The Nobel prizewinning poet Ivan Bunin who emigrated in 1918 and eventually settled in Paris. Then, of course, the scientists such as Andrei Sakharov and the legendary symbol of Russian dissidence, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

In light of so many well-known Russian dissidents, this documentary film I pray for, exposing the Soviet invasion of the American arts and sciences, dwelling places into which numerous gifted Russians sought freedom? That film will be made; and by then it will receive an Academy Award nomination.

Why?

Sarah Palin will have already been a great American President for eight years!

Once he gets his Concerto for Orchestra performed by a top-notch orchestra - you'll follow the link NOW right? - I am certain Moriarty will take his many gifts into the world of book design.

Pity the Fool Eating the Treat WITHOUT Flavour Bits

Fix the News Please

As I toodle around Washington and Oregon - pilgrimage to Walla Walla for the lovely daughter - I notice that Fox News is wall-to-wall debt ceiling while CNN relieves that with Octomom/Anthony developments.

When the propaganda channel has a higher news-to-noise ratio than the competition I expect the propaganda channel to get more viewers.

Harry Was Not the Most Handsome Man

The Dirtiest City in Russia

Chelyabinsk is not Russia’s dirtiest city — the spot has been occupied by Norilsk since 1992 — but it ranked in the top 10 last year, the State Statistics Service said in June. The city, which has a population of 1.1 million, hosts many industrial facilities, including a metallurgical plant and a ferroalloys factory.

And so:

Chelyabinsk authorities launched last week a state tender worth 300,000 rubles ($10,700) to “optimize” Yandex and Google queries using 15 search phrases, including “radiation in Chelyabinsk,” “dirtiest city in Russia” and “ecology of the Urals.”

[...]

Whistleblower Alexei Navalny, who reported the story on his blog Thursday, called the tender “disgusting and immoral” and dubbed Chelyabinsk Governor Mikhail Yurevich a “proactive idiot.” The governor announced a campaign to change the region’s public image last September.

But a spokeswoman for the regional government, Svetlana Doronina, called reports about the region’s pollution “horror stories” spread by “radical environmental activists” in the pay of foreign competitors of the local industry, Chelyabinsk.ru reported. She did not name any names.

UPDATE FOR THE SAKE OF PROOF:

Lovable Losers

Order in the Court!

Plaintiff is either toying with the court or displaying her own stupidity. She made the correct redactions when she re-filed her Complaint and Amended Complaint. There is no logical explanation she can provide as to why she is now wasting the Court's time, as well as staff's time, with these improper redactions.

Oh Orly, when will you ever win?



M. Bouffant posted his take at 19:25 which means I am, like, eleven o'clocks ahead of him.

The Problem of Pensions

Times are tough:

CAIRO – Al-Qaida militants in Iraq made an online appeal Tuesday for new fundraising ideas, saying they are in dire need of money to help thousands of widows and children of slain fighters.

Insurgents of the Islamic State of Iraq — an umbrella group for Sunni militants_ have funded their operations in the past by robbing jewelry stores, banks and offices where the government pays out monthly salaries. But the group has seen its main source of money, funding from abroad, dry up, leaving the group strapped for cash.

Beatniks

Some 70s footage here. The lovely daughter enjoys Gregory Corso.

Not Visiting This Link

Over at the National Review, a link:

Henry Briton: What Irish monks could teach Washington's politicians.

Okay, "getting away with it" might be out now. What else is there?

Shorter Big Hollywood

Archie Bunker was right.

Maintaining the Stupid

I did not know that the Egyptian army was so interested in preserving the state television building:

The opposition blames state TV for its impoverishment of Egyptian culture for decades, says exhibition organiser Moataz Nasreldin.

"All these programmes were designed to make people as idiotic as possible, as stupid as possible. So it was like cheating us, stealing our freedom of expression, stealing our humanity."

Don't knock being idiotic as possible. It saw the birth of an empire.

It's Still Surprising to Read Stuff Like This

From an as-yet unfinished work. Will he survive?

Protect Our Penises!

Bail?

Westminster, California (CNN) -- The arraignment of Catherine Kieu Becker, the Southern California woman accused of cutting off her husband's penis and throwing it into a garbage disposal, was continued Friday to September 23 at the request of her public defender.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Debra Carrillo also set bail at $1 million for Becker, 48, who had been held without bail since her arrest this month. She is charged with torture and aggravated mayhem.

Sweet Jesus if this woman gets bail the CHOPPING WILL NEVER STOP!

I wonder what the usual bail amounts are like?

Thanks Andy!

You're a real help:

Norway Terror Attacks
July 22, 2011 5:11 P.M.
By Andrew C. McCarthy

Obviously, it is important to be cautious in drawing conclusions when the attacks just happened and facts are still coming in. But at the Standard, FDD’s Tom Joscelyn, as usual, provides some essential context. A year ago, an al Qaeda cell embedded in Oslo, under the direction of superiors in Pakistan, was thwarted in an attempted bombing. (Thwarted by aggressive intelligence collection, it should be added, including the penetration of email communications — the sort of thing frowned on by European and American critics of Bush counterterrorism.)

[snip of more essential context]

Equally helpful here:

So, we should profile when it helps Muslims?
July 22, 2011 6:57 P.M.
By Andrew C. McCarthy

[...]

In point of fact, if one of what appears to be several conspirators is neither a Muslim nor from an Islamic country, that does cut against the likelihood that this is another episode of Islamic terrorism. On the other hand, there are facts and circumstances that cut in the other direction – including that a jihadist organization has already claimed responsibility; that most terrorism is carried out by Islamists; that al Qaeda and other jihadist groups have for years been seeking European and American recruits (precisely because such operatives would defy the profile, drawing less suspicion); that al Qaeda tried to attack Oslo last year; and that Mullah Krekar recently appeared to threaten attacks if legal action were taken against him, and now legal action has been taken against him.

You may find that, in revising these efforts, the way may be smoothed by a few good stiff shots of well-aged premium Drano.

_________

I am taken by surprise. Could the slaughterer be a crazy right-wing blogger? IMPRISON ANDY MCCARTHY NOW.
_________

Gates of Vienna sez no. But it DOES NOT PRECLUDE ADDITIONAL CRAZY RIGHT-WING BLOGGING! IMPRISON ANDY MCCARTHY NOW!

I Tried Hard to Betray You and the Republicans Wouldn't Let Me

Yeah, I tried to do something that'd let the no-tax guys off the hook. Their feelings would have been hurt, so I tried to spare their feelings! What did I get? NOTHING.



We're willing to step up even when the folks who helped get us elected may disagree. BUT THE BIG ORANGE BOEHNER WOULDN'T LET ME DO THAT EITHER!

We're Marching to Hell

Fuck You Groupon

Awwwwww.

Tragedy has struck:

Add pillage to the increasingly infuriating experience of flying in the U.S. On tour to promote her terrific new book, Of Thee I Zing, Laura Ingraham’s checked baggage was rifled through at Newark airport. The thief or thieves made off with about $11K in jewelry, including a baptismal cross, blessed by the pope, which she’d bought at the Vatican. The New York Post has more details. Hang in there, Laura.

Another horrible thing about Christians is their love of showy crap. From teh pedophile church.

The Forest

The Unblinking Eye

Here you go:

Ann Althouse Is Important To the Discourse Because...

Verbatim Ann Althouse:

The phone-hacking scandal is important to the United States, because...

Relationships is Magic

Over at Pajamas Media, David Solway ponders the mystery of love:

In our time the task of understanding ourselves is perpetually frustrated by the almost instinctive blending we make of two contradictory modes of being: the mechanical and the spiritual. Because we are short on spiritual reality we are long on mechanical models. We confuse the instantaneity of the computer with the timelessness of genuine insight. We think of memory as a form of storage, learning as efficient programming, education as the acquisition of skills and techniques, harmony as smooth functioning, self-development as the accumulation of isolable and multiple capacities like a Black & Decker kitchen-center or a Swiss Army knife, self-expression as a kind of accelerator-pushing to burn off excess fumes. And — the cardinal sin — we consider spirit itself as the free exercise of charity in exactly the same way as a mechanism must be used from time to time without a designated purpose in order not to jam with rust or dust. Our attitude to the super sensible is basically hygienic. We live the disenchantment of the world.

When the Duke in Browning’s “My Last Duchess” says that he refuses to stoop to indicate to his wife just what adjustments to make in her conduct in order to settle his doubts and so preserve the marriage, he is articulating a fundamental humanism. Today we merely visit a counselor, a.k.a. a gender reconciliation facilitator, who listens, ruminates, tinkers, and offers recommendations to repair a marriage gone on the blink — much as a garage mechanic puts his ear to the hood, plays with the engine, quotes various alternatives, and concludes by replacing a few parts to get the buggy on the road again. What we have done is assimilate the evangelical mystery of marriage to the intricate functioning of a twelve-tappet, fuel-injected turbo-Jag. Snafty and impressive as this may be, it is still just a metal case with a lot of repetitively moving parts.

Am I completely crazy or is David Solway endorsing the behaviour of the Duke here? Solway down in comments:

[...] And bak, Don and physicist, as for Browning’s poem: I regard Browning as one of my cherished poetic mentors and have taught this poem for years in my classes. A few years back I published a lit/crit book, Random Walks, which contains a chapter on “My Last Duchess” called “Dukes and Duchesses,” in which I present an alternative reading of the poem in question. I was encouraged by the response of several Browning experts who admitted that they had never entertained such a revisionist analysis of the piece, based on solid evidence from the historical register and from the “shadow zone” of the poem itself. (A reading of Daniel Karlin’s book on Browning’s courtship with Elizabeth is also helpful.) I obviously don’t have the space here to present a thorough and would hope convincing exegesis–it required 17 close-packed pages in my book–but if you can get hold of the book from McGill-Queen’s University Press and glom the chapter, you might be surprised. Only if you are really interested, of course. But I do appreciate your comments.

Buy my book, and you will understand why the wonder and mystery of friendship is best shown in the example of Dr. Heiter.

3-2-1 GO!

Conspiracy time:

Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead, the Guardian has learned.

It's a pity the the one person on television who could really explain this has been canned.

Bug

Really just camera play. My apologies for the infliction.

The Beauty of Faith

Here are excerpts from Laura Ingraham's new book:

I understand why so many churchgoers are in need of grace, because an awful lot of them display so very little.

That's right, Christians suck.

Why, knowing that you are about to shake hands with fellow congregants, either at the start of a service or during the sign of peace, would you pick your nose?

Also Christians delight in spreading filth.

Do these rude people (who I think have season tickets to the pew in front of mine) imagine that we don’t see them sneaking a dig?

Christians think others are oblivious to their disgusting behaviour.

Confession: I have actually gotten up and taken my children to the back of the church before the sign of peace to avoid shaking hands with the parish pickers.

The church is no place for a Christian.

My friend Ina told me she has seen people at her church’s “summer services” surfing the Internet on their iPhones.

Christians pay no attention.

They put the phones on mute and scroll through their texts and e-mail in the middle of Sunday observances.

Christians are selfish.

Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean you can “vacation” from decorum in the church!

Christians don't get vacations.

The summer weather seems to bring out the worst in some churchgoers, and it’s not just what they are doing, but what they are wearing.

The Christian wardrobe is appalling.

As the temperature rises, beachwear becomes the norm in some congregations.

Christians beach beach beach.

Shorts, sarong-like wraps, swim trunks, and flip-flops (which some wear year-round) are routine.

Christians are responsible for the flip-flop epidemic.

Unless your church is on a sand dune, these fashions are not only unwelcome but scary to many fellow parishioners.

The flip-flop epidemic is SCARY.

It reminds me of the woman I once saw exit a confessional in full body-hugging spandex.

Christians and bodies and hugging don't mix.

I don’t know if there was a spin class in there or what — but this was one spiritually dissonant image I could have lived without.

Christians want to live without.

The only thing possibly more obnoxious than the outrageous church fashions is the couples who are forever caressing each other in the pews.

Christians are horny as goats.

I suppose they do it initially to acknowledge a point of mutual interest being made from the pulpit.

The Bible makes you want to stroke your partner.

But there are other cases of roving fingers that I can’t explain at all.

Christians keep trying to get away with stuff.

One man I saw rubbed his wife’s back for an entire sermon.

Christianity is a massage parlour.

I’ve also seen people stroke their partner’s arms, legs, necks, even buttocks during services.

Christians are ass-grabbers.

Excuse me, but this is supposed to be worship, not a conjugal visit!

Christian sex is prison sex.

The only conception I’m even remotely interested in thinking about during church is of the immaculate variety.

Christians are constantly checking people's asses to make sure they won't be distracted by asses.

And that, friends, is why Laura Ingraham is so happy to be a Christian.

Fear!

And no wonder as the nuclear blast radius begins to consume the background trees.

Where Fish Was

Now you know. Sorry pal. It was a dream job - for SICKOS LIKE YOU - but it couldn't last.

Fat Cats

I didn't say it, you can't say I said it:

Kathryn Jean Lopez chats with Ian Murray about government fat cats.

Below, someone who does not work in government:



Go on. I DARE you.

Math

Upside-Downy Relations

Okay, it's not Marmite but aren't you all the same? Available here.

Sweet AND Salty

Fair food:

CALGARY — Walking through the Calgary Stampede Midway, there are more than a few options for food of the artery-clogging variety.

But the one that seems to stand out for people, either in disgust or genius, is the new doughnut burger.

Located near the main Lammle’s Western Wear Store, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

A beef burger with all the fixings stuffed between two maple-glazed doughnuts acting as the bun, all for $8.

“It’s dinner and dessert at the same time,” said Heidi Duchow, operator of the doughnut burger stand. “You get the sweet and the salty.

“All the different flavours at the same time.”

Haters Gonna Hate Is a Money-Making Formula

Panickers and their money are soon parted:

Rapid City, South Dakota (CNN) -- Walid Shoebat had a blunt message for the roughly 300 South Dakota police officers and sheriff's deputies who gathered to hear him warn about the dangers of Islamic radicalism.

Terrorism and Islam are inseparable, he tells them. All U.S. mosques should be under scrutiny.

"All Islamic organizations in America should be the No. 1 enemy. All of them," he says.

[...]

"Being an ex-terrorist myself is to understand the mindset of a terrorist," Shoebat told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

[...]

But CNN reporters in the United States, Israel and the Palestinian territories found no evidence that would support that biography. Neither Shoebat nor his business partner provided any proof of Shoebat's involvement in terrorism, despite repeated requests.

The thing about terrorists is that they float, whereas innocents sink and drown.

And You Knew Who You Were Then

John Nolte has a point right on the top of his head:

Mickey Rooney’s Japanese character in “Breakfast [at Tiffany's]” is way too over-the-top to ever be considered funny (I also think the movie is overrated in general), but if we’re going to start banning and making lists of “offensive” characterizations, I’d like to start with every portrayal of a Caucasian Eddie Murphy has ever done. And what about Archie Bunker? Talk about ethnic stereotyping.

Ha ha, he is totally right. There were never any white people like knee-jerk racist Archie Bunker or, er, all those white folks that Eddie Murphy must have played that I do not remember except for one Saturday Night Live sketch in which the white person does not really do much and a fantasy world is posited in which white people do not rip off white people ever.

Totally the same.

Bird Recipes

If you shake the test tubes just so the feathers come out shinier.



Visiting here again.

Summer

Praise the lord it appears to have arrived. Light posting, family stuff, yadda yadda yadda.

Below is Central Park:

Gardening Challenge

The Riddled folks have really got to get gardening to top this.

Under Your Skin

A new threat Threat THREAT!!!

Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen recently discussed surgically implanting an explosive device under the skin of a suicide bomber to get past airport detectors and blow up a U.S.-bound passenger plane, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

There is no indication of an immediate plot, but the government has warned airlines, stepped up security at U.S. airports and encouraged other countries to adjust security measures.

The focus is mostly on international flights, but domestic passengers are likely to see more bomb-sniffing dogs and an increased use of swabs that test for traces of explosive material on hands and luggage.

Do the bomb-sniffing dogs have to gnaw through your flesh to get at the explosive device or something? Because there could be a downside to false positives.

Crime Watch

News:

VANCOUVER — A B.C. Supreme Court jury has found a Vancouver acupuncturist guilty of sexually assaulting four of his female patients.

This is sad because those four women could really have gotten something outta that acupuncture.

Haw Haw Haw

It's the forwarded PowerPoints that really bug me.

He's Really Yelling KAUS! KAUS!

Well Done

Via Crooks and Liars it seems someone has learned a lesson:

Senate President Stephen Sweeney went to bed furious Thursday night after reviewing the governor’s line-item veto of the state budget.

He woke up Friday morning even angrier.

“This is all about [New Jersy Governor Chris Christie] being a bully and a punk,” he said in an interview Friday.

“I wanted to punch him in his head.”

Sweeney had just risked his political neck to support the governor’s pension and health reform, and his reward was a slap across the face. The governor’s budget was a brusque rejection of every Democratic move, and Sweeney couldn’t even get an audience with the governor to discuss it.

“You know who he reminds me of?” Sweeney says. “Mr. Potter from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ the mean old bastard who screws everybody.”

Way to go, Stephen Sweeney. I wonder what difference there should be between the fate of Christie's political neck and Sweeney's.

The Problems of the Wealthy

Surrealist Joke

Quoth the lovely daughter:

That monkey goes ahOOOOOga.

A pretty good show.

Free Game-Making Software

Looks to be a Windows thing, but it seems to make iPhone games as well.

Caspian Software makes a product called Thinking Worlds, which the company describes as a “globally unique 3D sims & games engine and authoring environment.” The product lets both beginners and advanced game-makers create and publish games quickly and easily, and even publish to iPad and iPhone.
Similar Articles:

On Friday, the company released the latest version of Thinking Worlds with the astonishing announcement that the formerly $4,999 package is now completely free to use. Advanced users will have the option to pay for additional features if they require them, but basic functionality is completely free.

I look forward to an orb game from Thundra.

The Inefficiencies of Communism

Here is a post entitled "How I Wound Up On the Blacklist" which purports to tell a tale of woeful discrimination by Hollywood liberals against innocent conservatives:

Three weeks later, after I had finished compositing all the shots that had previously been given to me, he told me there was no more work and I was being laid off along with some others. After working at this company over a three year period, I was never called back again. As I was called into interviews at other companies, I would see many of the other other Compositors working at these places. Maybe it was my imagination, but there always seemed to be some sneering and comments under breath to others upon seeing me. Out of dozens of visual effects companies I was well qualified to work at, none would hire me except one. There I spent another period of three years [...]

Yes friends, after being let go he went unhired until someone hired him. BLACKLIST SUCCESS JUTSU! Said blacklisted individual apparently now operates a production company of some sort in the Hollywood environs. DOUBLE BLACKLIST SUCCESS JUTSU!

Also in the piece are long descriptions of past arguments. Those descriptions are of the kind that patient listeners tolerate every day - can you believe one of those evil Democrats had a master's degree? - when they're trying to make sure the jerk calms down.

Mixology

That is high-quality entertainment in itself, but play this at the same time: