Archive for the ‘the stupid – it burns!’ Category
campus saved from dangerous protestors by brave peace officer
UC Davis chancellor Linda Katehi walks to her car while protesters watch. For any political protester that wants to know how to create an effective message, this is how you do it, kids.
when you’ve lost the economist….
The Economist on the non-violent protests by Palestinians against Israel:
We’ve asked the Palestinians to lay down their arms. We’ve told them their lack of a state is their own fault; if only they would embrace non-violence, a reasonable and unprejudiced world would see the merit of their claims. Over the weekend, tens of thousands of them did just that, and it seems likely to continue. If crowds of tens of thousands of non-violent Palestinian protestors continue to march, and if Israel continues to shoot at them, what will we do? Will we make good on our rhetoric, and press Israel to give them their state? Or will it turn out that our paeans to non-violence were just cynical tactics in an amoral international power contest staged by militaristic Israeli and American right-wing groups whose elective affinities lead them to shape a common narrative of the alien Arab/Muslim threat? Will we even bother to acknowledge that the Palestinians are protesting non-violently? Or will we soldier on with the same empty decades-old rhetoric, now drained of any truth or meaning, because it protects established relationships of power? What will it take to make Americans recognise that the real Martin Luther King-style non-violent Palestinian protestors have arrived, and that Israeli soldiers are shooting them with real bullets?
–link
The answer, of course, to the last question, is that is there is no such animal.
ayn rand
What kind of person was Ayn Rand?
The newspapers were filled for months with stories about serial killer called William Hickman, who kidnapped a 12-year-old girl called Marion Parker from her junior high school, raped her, and dismembered her body, which he sent mockingly to the police in pieces. Rand wrote great stretches of praise for him, saying he represented “the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul. … Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should.” She called him “a brilliant, unusual, exceptional boy,” shimmering with “immense, explicit egotism.” Rand had only one regret: “A strong man can eventually trample society under its feet. That boy [Hickman] was not strong enough.”
And what kind of people worship someone with this ideology?
when conservatives tell the truth
Kudlow, on the disaster in Japan:
““The human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll, and we can be grateful for that.”
–link
dystopia
Dubai has been built very fast. The plan was money. The architect was money. The designer was money and the builder was money. And if you ever wondered what money would look like if it were left to its own devices, it’s Dubai.
–link
steampunk palin
A great leap forward in the history of the graphic novel:
The story starts in the near future, in the immediate aftermath of a war that has destroyed all the Earth’s oil. A new power source is needed, and Sarah Palin steps forward to suggest steam power as a replacement.
You have to see it to believe it.
how sarah palin talks about basketball games
To the teams that desire making it this far next year: Gear up! In the battle, set your sights on next season’s targets! From the shot across the bow – the first second’s tip-off – your leaders will be in the enemy’s crosshairs, so you must execute strong defensive tactics. You won’t win only playing defense, so get on offense! The crossfire is intense, so penetrate through enemy territory by bombing through the press, and use your strong weapons – your Big Guns – to drive to the hole. Shoot with accuracy; aim high and remember it takes blood, sweat and tears to win.
Focus on the goal and fight for it. If the gate is closed, go over the fence. If the fence is too high, pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, parachute in. If the other side tries to push back, your attitude should be “go for it.” Get in their faces and argue with them. (Sound familiar?!) Every possession is a battle; you’ll only win the war if you’ve picked your battles wisely. No matter how tough it gets, never retreat, instead RELOAD!
–link
remember judith miller?
Judith “aluminium tubes” Miller was the so-called journalist for the NY Times who acted as a stenographer for the US government rather than as an actual reporter.
What ever happened to her?
the stupidity of the national review summarized
The blizzard is definitely a force for conservatism, and not only because it has had the global-warming crowd scrambling for explanations.
poor bastard will see the bats soon enough
More of the insanity that is the writings of Tom Friedman:
More than ever, America today reminds me of a working couple where the husband has just lost his job, they have two kids in junior high school, a mortgage and they’re maxed out on their credit cards. On top of it all, they recently agreed to take in their troubled cousin, Kabul, who just can’t get his act together and keeps bouncing from relative to relative. Meanwhile, their Indian nanny, who traded room and board for baby-sitting, just got accepted to M.I.T. on a full scholarship and will be leaving them in a few months. What to do?
So what do you think his answer is, in this hallucinatory allegory of the American economy, to his question of “What to do?”.
Go ahead, guess. What do you think his recommendation is?
Answer: violin lessons for the boys.
propaganda
Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said the New York Times may have committed a crime by publishing classified documents provided by WikiLeaks and called for the Justice Department to investigate.
“To me, New York Times has committed at least an act of bad citizenship. And whether they’ve committed a crime, I think that bears very intensive inquiry by the Justice Department,” Lieberman said when asked whether the Times could be charged for publishing the documents.
During the interview with Fox News, Lieberman also questioned why WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has not been charged with treason by the Justice Department.
–link
A judge could order an indictment of Assange sealed until such time as the US is able to apprehend him, or until he is in custody in a nation from which he is likely to be extradited. The purpose of such secrecy would be to keep the WikiLeaks chief from going even further underground.
At least one prominent US legal analyst thinks this is just the sort of thing that is going on.
“I would not be at all surprised if there was a sealed arrest warrant currently in existence against [Assange],” said CNN legal expert Jeffrey Toobin on Wednesday. “That question is whether the American authorities can find him and bring him back to the United States for trial.”
In recent days US military officials have been talking about the WikiLeaks matter as if more is going on, legally speaking, than may meet the eye. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said that the military has enlisted FBI agents in its investigation of the matter, which could mean that someone who is not a uniformed US military person is about to be charged, or has been.
–link
The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from May 1 – May 3 in Washington, D.C. UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press.
The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.
–link
dont tread on me
The leader of the Tea Party thinks it is fine for the government to tax me without representation.
priorities
Paul Krugman points out the silliness of the Social Security debate.
Spending on war goes from 3% of GDP in 2001 to 4.2% today.
No big deal.
Social Security is projected to go from 4.8% of GDP today to 6% of GDP in 2030.
It’s a major crisis!
lessons and rules about the unemployed
Intelligent design believer Ben “science leads you to killing people” Stein, who has written for the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal, on the lessons we can learn from the unemployed in these times where there are 5 job applicants for every open position and 15 million people on unemployment:
The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities. I say “generally” because there are exceptions. But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work. They are people who create either little utility or negative utility on the job.
it’s hard being filthy rich
Just ask the New York Times:
Rich people are cutting back on their spending. A few poor rich people even had to buy cars the same colour as their old ones so their employees wouldn’t notice.
Rich people, being naturally ruthless, are forced to default on their mortgages more often than other people.
Rich people could never live on $500,000 a year when they have to pay $45,000 a year just for someone to take care of their children full time.
For rich people, manicures aren’t a luxury. They are “basic cleanliness“.
Rich people have a difficult time raising children: “Particularly for children of upper-middle-class and affluent families, there’s no perspective on value. When the new Range Rover pulls into the driveway, there’s no concept of how many hours of hard work went into owning that vehicle.”
Rich people worry about humiliating their unemployed children by giving them too much money.
Rich people in the top one ten-thousandth of households now have to make due with $6,000,000 or $8,000,000 a year instead of $11,000,000.
But somehow, with all of their problems, rich people still sleep better.
lemonade stand communist menace
I thought this was a joke at first. Apparently not.
Last week, I was in a car with my brother and his fiancee, driving through their upscale neighborhood on a hot summer day. At the corner, we all noticed three little girls sitting at a homemade lemonade stand.
…
…my brother asked how much each item cost.“Oh, no,” they replied in unison, “they’re all free!”
…
That really set me off, as my regular readers can imagine.“No!” I exclaimed from the back seat. “That’s not the spirit of giving. You can only really give when you give something you own. They’re giving away their parents’ things — the lemonade, cups, candy. It’s not theirs to give.”
I pushed the button to roll down the window and stuck my head out to set them straight.
The author of this screed publishes a column that you can read for free on the internet. But the best part is that the author believes the children should sell the lemonade because it isn’t theirs to give away. You shouldn’t give away things that aren’t yours…you should charge money for things that aren’t yours!
American capitalism circa 2010 A.D.
what it means to be a moderate
The NPR building in downtown Washington is the closest thing there is to a liberal Death Star.
Whiskey tango foxtrot.
He watched a lot of movies in college. He gets liberals.
It’s like watching a train wreck.
If his even-handedness feels calculated, that’s because it is. Anytime he speaks with a Republican senator, he tries to talk to a Democrat next. If he reads National Review’s The Corner, he then visits the Huffington Post.
Noted without comment.
Matt Taibbi on True/Slant called Brooks, among other things, a “spineless Beltway geek” on a “pencil-pusher’s eternal quest for macho cred” who “looks like a professional groveler/ass-kisser” and is “the kind of person who even in his spare time would pay a Leona Helmsley look-alike a thousand dollars to take a shit on his back.”
Recreational preferences aside, Brooks says he agrees with some of the criticism. “Often you’ll read a commentary about the column and think, That’s actually correct,” he says.
back to the 30s
“Home sales are down. Retail sales are down. Factory orders in May suffered their biggest tumble since March of last year…”
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California is tightening faster than Greece. State workers have seen a 14pc fall in earnings this year due to forced furloughs. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is cutting pay for 200,000 state workers to the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour
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[Illinois]…has a deficit of $12bn and is $5bn in arrears to schools, nursing homes, child care centres, and prisons. “It is getting worse every single day,” said state comptroller Daniel Hynes. “We are not paying bills for absolutely essential services. That is obscene.”
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Roughly a million Americans have dropped out of the jobs market altogether over the past two months.
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The share of the US working-age population with jobs in June actually fell from 58.7pc to 58.5pc. This is the real stress indicator. The ratio was 63pc three years ago. Eight million jobs have been lost.
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The average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks. Nothing like this has been seen before in the post-war era.
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Republicans on Capitol Hill are filibustering a bill to extend the dole for up to 1.2m jobless facing an imminent cut-off. Dean Heller from Vermont called them “hobos”.
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Washington’s fiscal stimulus is draining away.
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The housing market is already crumbling as government props are pulled away.
And so on.
What is Congress going to do about it? Nothing. What are the voters going to do about it? Vote in a political party that will make things even worse.
D Clarity 
