How about a little psycho for your Tuesday? A friend of mine pointed me to these people: The Christian Party. As you can guess, they have plenty of their special kind of psychotic bullshit to spew:
Unless "intelligence" is something that can't be measured, and unless all who believe men aren't more intelligent than women accept as a fact an entity that can't be quantified or measured or proven, then it simply cannot be correct that women are more than or equally intelligent to men. Thus, 6 out of 7 American women and three quarters of American men hold a belief that cannot be substantiated by any facts, proof that the brainwashing of our students has been a remarkable success.
and
BETWEEN 1988 AND 2000, according to JEW sources, THE WORLDWIDE SUPPLY OF JEWS PLUNGED FROM 18.1 TO 13.2. FINALLY, JEWS HAVE PROOF OF A HOLOCAUST! But there was no war. The Nazis are long gone. In the midst of peacetime, the jews LOST 4.9 million people, and still haven't been able to locate them. Could it be that they need a war in Iraq to increase the jew population back to 18 million? On top of that, the 2000 figure for jews in the world included 6.7 million in the US when in fact there may have been only 5.2 million. The jews in the US, with all the modern techniques for counting populations and handling membership lists, a first class mail delivery system, no war or insurrection or gas ovens or mass graves, were unable to pin down their population to within 1.5 million jews--an error of 29%!
and
The Mongrelization of America Increased Our Homicide Rate Ten Fold
BLACKS KILL 180,000 WHITES IN UNPUBLICIZED MASS CARNAGE
And just who is behind this nonsense? The site lists that it is from the "Fathers' Manifesto and Christian Party" who is, according to
the homepage:
Fighting feminism, ending affirmative action, and restoring responsible fatherhood
Uh-huh. Suuuuure, you are.
These people apparently need not one, not
two, but
three shitty-ass, Frontpage-lookin' sites to get their insane agenda out there.
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Discussing Joe Scarborough’s faint praise of President Bush—“I spent a few hours alone with President Bush on Air Force One. He was likable and sharp”—PusBoy says:
When you make a point to call someone “sharp,” isn’t it usually when you’re describing someone who’s 90 years old or older and still driving?
I met Mr. Jones, and he’s very sharp. For his age. I mean, compared to someone in his 20s or 30s, he’s a fucking idiot, but compared to other 90-year-olds, he’s top notch. Well, maybe a B+. On a curve. Anyway, the dude is sharp. Okay?”
Rest easy, America. President Bush is “sharp.” Sharp like a pickle.
Awesome.
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
A most excellent post on the evidence of dark matter (a devilish galactic scamp which was a much-discussed topic at geek headquarters—aka Shakes Manor—last night) by our favorite science guy, Sean Carroll.
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Ezra has advice for Hillary.
In addition to all the astute political points Ez makes, there are a couple of things that bother me about a Hillary presidency.
One: Were she to win and serve two terms, by the end of her 8 years, America would have been under the leadership of a Bush or Clinton for twenty-eight years. If you add in Bush Sr.’s eight years as veep, it brings the total to thirty-six years with either a Bush or Clinton in one of the top two government positions in the country. This isn’t a monarchy—two families having that much power over the direction of the nation is just too much.
[To clarify: Nightshift 66 says: "HRC didn't cause either Bush presidency, so a B-C-B-C run would be an historical accident." The issue here, for me, is that it's a historical accident that's icky and doesn't need to be further perpetuated. The whole point of a democracy is meant to be keeping power out of a limited number of hands, and even if it isn't her fault that her first opportunity comes at the tale end of this series, she nonetheless ought to have some regard for the antithesis of a democracy such a series inevitably is. (So should Jeb Bush, btw.)]
Two: Hillary is just as divisive a figure as was Bill, and as is Bush Jr. Unlike Bush, who endeavors to marginalize half of the country by ruling as though he had a sweeping mandate, it’s not really Hillary’s fault that she’s so divisive—movement conservatives hate the Clintons no matter what they do (even when they do things that piss off progressives, like DADT and DOMA and supporting flag-burning amendments). Nonetheless, that’s the reality, and I’m tired of having a country split in bloody two. There’s no guarantee that movement conservatives won’t react the same way to any Democratic president these days; perhaps John Edwards would attract the same level of ire. But there is a guarantee that a Hillary presidency will only inflame ideological opponents, and we’ll spend the foreseeable future focused on stupid personal crap as movement conservatives seek to fill a crazy vendetta. I don’t want a president who I know will be constantly embroiled in useless partisan disputes.
[To clarify: I'm not "hating on her because the opposition hates on her." I'm annoyed that she doesn't seem to want to recognize that they do, in a way unlike other potential candidates. Unless she genuinely feels that every other potential Dem nominee would make an utter hash of the presidency, it makes more sense for her to let them carry the mantle, since they don't carry the same baggage.]
Three: Hillary doesn’t seem to recognize—or care about—either of these things. I can kind of give a pass to her for ignoring the whole Clinton-Bush Reign thing, because she, as do all presidential candidates, believes she’s the best person for the job, which eclipses concerns about two families ruling for a generation. But I can’t give her a pass on turning a blind eye to the fact that her presidency will not remotely come close to moving beyond the bitter partisan divides that have fractured the country so deeply. I get the impression that her attitude is basically, “Tough shit. I wanna be president.” It’s as though she knows she can handle it, and that’s all that matters. But it isn’t. A lot of people, including me, are tired of the extreme polarization. It’s why, though I’d be unhappy with a Republican president, I’d prefer a Republican in the mold of Richard Lugar to one in the mold of George Allen—and it’s why there are moderates who would cast a vote for John Edwards, or Al Gore, or Wes Clark, but who would never cast a vote for Hillary.
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Pam points to an article about Florida Republican Senate candidate Randall Terry's decision to leave two adopted children out of the family photo on his website—one of whom is gay and one of whom is a single mother. (Terry is also the founder of the odious anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.)
Among the conservative Christian's pledges are preserving traditional marriage and opposing gay adoptions. He has touted efforts to stop abortions. His campaign mailers sum up the value he puts on family: they show a picture with his wife, a daughter and three grinning young sons taken before a fourth was born this summer.
But Terry's adopted son Jamiel says the picture is missing two people: he and his sister Tila, also adopted. Both have been estranged from Terry since Jamiel came out as a gay man and Tila had a child out of wedlock.
He sure found room for that flag, though.
Jamiel Terry said the self-image that his father is crafting and the campaign message about strong families ignores part of his own family history. He said voters have a right to know about that.
"He is very big on image," Jamiel Terry said. "In a large way Tila and I mess up that image."
..."He has tried to say abortion should not exist because families and churches should step in," Jamiel Terry said. "When his own daughter is pregnant, he refuses to help her."
Randall has a good explanation for why his two adopted children are not in the picture, though: "The reason we don't have a photo with Jamiel and Tila is that we haven't been in the same room with them in about three years." Ah, perfectly normal for a loving family.
(Crossposted at
AlterNet PEEK.)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Via King of Zembla comes this asinine tidbit from Washington Whispers:
He loves to cuss, gets a jolly when a mountain biker wipes out trying to keep up with him, and now we're learning that the first frat boy loves flatulence jokes. A top insider let that slip when explaining why President Bush is paranoid around women, always worried about his behavior. But he's still a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can't get enough of fart jokes. He's also known to cut a few for laughs, especially when greeting new young aides, but forget about getting people to gas about that.
You know, I once had a boss who thought it was the height of hilarity to fart in front of his employees. We didn't regard him as "funny" or "earthy," but as "a total asshole."
And since when is Bush "paranoid around women?" His predilection for disrespecting staffers by letting rip with bodily functions in front of them reminds me of nothing more immediately than his
groping German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which wasn't indicative of paranoia, but a complete disregard for anyone or anything but his own whims.
Bush is a bully. Like touching people against their wishes, a superior passing gas in front of them in a professional environment has the same manipulative quality, requiring them, irrespective of their honest personal reactions, to laugh and jolly along someone who's behaving badly. Getting away with acting like such a wanton ass in front of people who
can't complain is just another way for Bush to get those around him to
knuckle under. He's a despicable character, and it's pathetic that such antics are treated as "charming" by the media, because he's not jovial—he's mean.
(Crossposted at
AlterNet PEEK.)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Thought I'd open a place to discuss for anyone who watched last night. It's pretty devastating, and should be required viewing for every American. I was shocked by some of the footage that Lee got from the BBC, which never aired here, much of which simply showed the scope of the human disaster. Shots of the Superdome evacuation. Overhead shots of the onramps teeming with people. It struck me, as I watched, how our media deliberately chose to minimize our ability to see how many people were truly affected.
(Short interview with Spike Lee here, which may be of interest.)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
What moment perfectly encapsulates the Bush presidency for you?
For me, I think it's gotta be the "Where are the WMDs?" comedy routine he did at the White House Correspondents' Dinner a couple of years ago. That, or telling a single mom who was working three jobs that her situation was "fantastic" and totally American. What have you got?
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Junior Crusaders.
Charming. You know, I've got no problem with these
in theory, any more than I would Underoos. If you want to deck your kids out to reflect a Christian belief, have at it. But referencing the crusades, which by any reasonable definition were not exactly Christianity's shining highlight, is a bit, uh, disturbing.
What I especially like is how they manage to reinforce gender stereotypes, too. (Hat tip to Oddjob.)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
…the weirdest of all Bush’s weirdass rude exchanges (“jokes”) with reporters:
Bush had called on Helen Thomas, the 86-year-old columnist and former wire service reporter who occupies a seat in the front row of the press briefing room and poses tough questions when called upon. She thanked him, and Bush said: "It's kind of like dancing together, isn't it?''
Not really, interjected Ken Herman, a Washington-based reporter for Cox News and formerly the Austin, Tex., American-Statesman whom Bush has known since his days as governor of Texas. That's when Bush zeroed in on the tan and white suit that Herman had worn to the morning press conference.
"By the way, seersucker is coming back. I hope everybody gets it,'' said Bush, wearing a dark gray suit with a white shirt and blue tie.
Herman, rolling with the president's sartorial punch, called it "the summertime East Texas county commissioner look.''
When Bush vowed that he will stay out of the Connecticut Senate race, Herman pointed out that the president was born in Connecticut.
"I may be the only person -- the only presidential candidate -- who never carried the state in which he was born,'' Bush replied. "Do you think that's right, Herman? Of course, you would have researched that and dropped it out for everybody to see, particularly since I dissed that just ridiculous-looking outfit. ... I don't want anybody to know that I think it's ridiculous-looking. ''
Later, when the president formally called on Herman for a question, Herman rose, displaying his seersucker for all to see. "Go ahead,'' Herman said.
"I don't need to,'' Bush said, "now that you've stood up, and everybody can clearly see for themselves.''
“Suit you, sir.”(Btw, that’s Mr. Ken “Ridiculous-Looking Outfit” Herman who’s driving Bush to agitated distraction in the
video posted earlier. Perhaps Bush should have kept his fashion commentary to himself.)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Last week, I put up a
wiseass post about Bush's recent pardons, and how they all struck me as really... well.. redneck-y. I was snickering, in particular, at Bush's pardoning of a couple moonshiners. Really, how Good 'Ol Boy can you get?
Well, apparently you can go one step further.
Because as I just found out, one of the moonshiners
had a small role in Deliverance.WASHINGTON (CNN) -- By granting absolution to a convicted moonshiner, George W. Bush also earned the unique distinction of becoming the first president to pardon a cast member of the 1972 Academy Award-nominated movie "Deliverance."
Randall Leece Deal of Clayton, Georgia, had a small role in the film about four Atlanta businessmen who have unpleasant encounters with locals during a North Georgia canoe trip.
No, he wasn't the "squeal like a pig" guy.
(Dueling cross-posts.)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
A ploy that certainly seems to have worked, based on the wide-ranging (and mostly hostile) responses across the wide world o'blogs to this self-aggrandizing post by a woman whom you've most likely never heard of before today. All the modest Ms. Passey claims to want is to weed out the many unsuitable suitors who come banging, as it were, on her door. She attempts to do this by making it perfectly clear that she's light-years out of their league...and just about everybody else's. After all, she is - in her own modest words - "a very high-quality woman." She backs up the assertion by adducing the following pointers:
- I’m slim (whereas 62% of American women age 20 to 74 are overweight)
- I’m attractive (my new picture has been rated more attractive than 86% of the women on Hot or Not -- and the women who upload their pictures are a self-selected sample that is probably already biased towards being more attractive than the general female population)
- I’m relatively young (whereas 82% of American adult women are over 30 years old)
- I’m intelligent (IQ tested at 145 when I was a child, which is 3 standard deviations above the mean -- higher than 99.85% of the population. Even if I’ve gotten dumber as I’ve aged I’m probably still at least a 130, which is higher than 97.5% of the population.)
- I’m educated (whereas 77% of American women do not have bachelor’s degrees)
- I have my financial shit together (no debt, perfect credit history, 6+ months living expenses saved, adequate insurance, self employed)
- I have a strong libido and love having sex (my lover *never* has to beg, unless it’s for me to let him get some sleep!)
All that's missing is the claim that she can tie a steel rod into a knot with her tongue. Alas, Waveflux finds that Ms Passey's charms are diluted by her evident insecurities. Comparing oneself to others never impresses and rarely comes off well. Frankly, Dina Al-Sabah makes Ms. Passey look like the Mork & Mindy edition of Robin Williams. And Dina's got three degrees.
Oh, well. I'm sure Ms. Passey will find somebody, somewhere. It's a big world.
As for the reactions, the best-out-of-the-box award goes to Ace of Spades HQ (scroll down for context):
Okay, now that I see that she's a dead-ringer for Rudy Giuliani in drag, I have to admit, I'm three-quarters aroused.
Addendum: Am I the only person who read Ms. Passey's post and immediately thought of Maureen Dowd? Just wondering.
(Cross-posted.)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Oops, that should have said “Sex Free.”
Jessica is featuring some swell posters from an abstinence program in New Mexico, like this one:
Now I know there are people who choose to be abstinent for various reasons, from religion to just not being in a committed relationship at the moment. But because I’m just in one of those moods, I made a poster that I thought was better representative of the reasons most people are abstinent.
Which is, ya know, only slightly Plain Old Bitchy and mostly a serious commentary on why abstinence programs don’t work. Because
most young people, when given the choice between sex and no sex, say, “Wha? Abstinent—me? Uh, no. You must be thinking of some other dude.” And all the posters in the world implying that dirty whores like me are hankering for some nasty STDs won’t change that simple fact of human nature.
I know there are young people who are absolutely, positively sincere when they make virginity pledges and deck themselves out with virginity bracelets and virginity rings and various other modern day chastity belts. But it's easy to say "I'll never have sex until I'm married" when you're not in the back seat of your dad's car with someone who's making you blush and pant. In those moments, having a condom and the willingness to use it is hell and gone more important than any virginity pledge, because the very existence of the human race is predicated on virginity pledges not meaning shit in that situation.
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
The Blogosphere is, of course, abuzz with talk about Prezint Temper McTantrum's earlier press conference and snotty lecture. Most of the snark and debate is focusing on Dubya bluntly stating that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11:
Bush: The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. They were ...
Q: What did Iraqi have to do with that?
Bush: What did Iraq have to do with what?
Q: The attacks upon the World Trade Center.
Bush: Nothing. Except for it's part of __ and nobody's ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack.
... while pointing out that the Bush Administration has, of course, been linking Iraq to 9/11 since day one. (Notice how Bush gives himself some wiggle room, as no one is quoted as literally saying, "Saddam ordered the 9/11 attack.") So, in this little blowup, he reiterates that there have been no WMD's found, and denies the Iraq=9/11 connection. Not to mention the obnoxious "freedom agenda in the Middle East" crap. Infuriating, to say the least. But
this is the statement that's really making me nuts:
"Iraq was a — Iraq — the lesson of September the 11th is take threats before they fully materialize, Ken"
Take threats before they fully materialize? How
dare you?
You mean like... when you're handed a briefing entitled
"Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.?" The briefing that, if proper attention was paid and the threat was taken seriously, could have stopped 9/11 in the first place?
I'm sure the victims of Katrina that are being
ignored and forgotten wish you would have
listened to warnings before they "fully materialized," you
douche.Ignoring threats to America: The
true "legacy" of the Bush presidency.
(Fiddling while the cross-post burns...)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Something else for which we can thank the GOP and their preposterously-indifferent-to-domestic-issues president.
Can anyone think of another time in their lives when there was so little attention on any real domestic issues? I’m not talking about uppity women and kissing boys, but shit like the economy and the environment and employment and education and other things that may or may not begin with the letter E. Part of it, I know, is the conservative focus on leaving a lot of infrastructure maintenance to the states, and part of it is because we’re “at war,” but even when I was a kid during the Reagan years, for as much as I heard about The Cold War and international junk, I remember there were always domestic issues in the news. It’s like BushCo. took the wheel and promptly put America on cruise control.
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
To replace the female Sunday School teachers we’ve gotta shit-can:
The First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on Aug. 9 with a letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years.
Why? Because the church has adopted “a literal interpretation of the Bible.” In the letter, they cited the passage that led to their decision (which is also, as it happens, one of the first verses I would cite to anyone who asks why you’ll never again find my ass in a pew):
The letter quoted the first epistle to Timothy: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."
Fuck that noise.
Back in the day when I started asking obnoxious questions at church, like, “What’s the dealio with the dinosaur bones, Preach?” the prohibition on women teaching men (which the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church uses to justify its ban on female ministers, congregation presidents, etc.) was another of my “issues.” The minister had no good answer, natch, for why women could be Sunday School teachers but not ministers, but my mom—one of the all-female staff of Sunday School teachers—explained to me that if they passed a rule saying only men could teach Sunday School, there wouldn’t be any more Sunday School. And thusly did feminism blossom in my budding bosom.
(Disclaimer: This is
not satire.)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
Wow, some good news!
Jackie Chan, Chinese Director in Talks
(I don't know why they couldn't have just said Zhang's name, or "Director of Hero," but whatever.)
HONG KONG - Jackie Chan is in talks with famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou about a possible collaboration, his spokesman said Monday.
Spokesman Solon So said Chan and Zhang have held several discussions but haven't agreed on a project.
"Both parties are interested but they need to find the right script," So said.
Chan said last year he and Zhang conferred on a story set in the 1980s but wouldn't reveal details.
Zhang is known for films like "Raise the Red Lantern," "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers." One of China's most respected directors, he has won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival twice.
I first saw Jackie Chan when I was in high school when I rented
Police Story. Needless to say, it was love at first sight. From the car chase through the shanty town to the scene of Jackie climbing onto the bus using his umbrella, I was completely hooked.
No one did anything like this in the U.S., and for the luvva mike, he didn't use a stuntman! He paid for it too, as the "outtakes" during the end credits made all too clear. Not only that, he was
funny.I got to meet Jackie at a book signing of his
autobiography, and you've never met a sweeter human being. I've worked with many celebrities at many book signings, and I've never seen someone so devoted to, and genuinely happy to meet his fans. After several years of so-so to completely awful U.S. features (when is the last time you heard an American movie star say that they
hated their last movie?), it's nice to see Jackie getting back to doing movies his way.
Now let's all agree to keep Chris Tucker and Owen Wilson far, far away.
(Who likes cross-posts? We like cross-posts!)
Open Wide...
Shut Up!
