Friday, February 29, 2008

"Garfield Minus Garfield" Equals Brilliant

What would Garfield comics be like if Garfield wasn't in them? Like this perchance?



OK, what the heck is that about? Here's what the site's creators say it is:

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.

Now look at these thru the explanatory prism:





Check it out, yo!

Keep in mind that this is probably an infringement of numerous copyright laws and subject to being taken down at any time. Art and fun is fine and all, but not if someone else can stop it because they've got the law on their side.

(h/t Penny Arcade)

Note: They removed the meth addiction reference sometime in the past day from the site. Hmmm...

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

R.I.P. William F. Buckley Jr.

The Titan of Conservatism has passed on to that Great Cocktail Party in the Sky. Look for much rejoicing and nastiness from the devotees of Karl Marx in the Treason Media and bastions of humanity such as the HuffPo.

As Jonah Goldberg noted on The Corner:

As George Will once said, "before there was Ronald Reagan there was Barry Goldwater, before there was Goldwater there was National Review, and before there was National Review there was William F. Buckley." As conservatives — and as Americans — we are all standing on his shoulders.
Will Robin Williams continue to do his WFB impression? He still does George Gessell when no one knows who he was, so I'd guess so.

1-900-NERD-GIRL

McHatin sent this in.



KILLER!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Video: Obama's Pledge To Disarm America

Hermione asked me when the primaries were about to start who I liked. I told her no one. When pressed to pick the least evil option would be on the Dem side, I said Hillary. She was astounded and asked why? "Because she's the only one even willing to pretend that its a dangerous world and that she'd be slightly inclined in certain circumstances to defend America."

In case there was any doubt that Barrack Obama is a dangerously naive ultra-radical threat to American security that could make us wistful for those long-ago days of brawny, macho American might during the JIMMY CARTER regime, check out Obama's promise to disarm America in his own words:



Jeez, is ANYONE paying attention to this stuff?!?

(h/t Power Line)

Banned Phase: "Baby Bump"!

I was watching the Oscar coverage and the insipid twits on E! when the discussion - I'm being charitable in calling their prattling that - turned to the pregnant actresses in attendance, including Nicole Kidman, Jessica Alba and Cate Blanchett. These drones then broke out one of the current phases that makes me want to Hulk smash: baby bump.

You see it on the scandal mag covers where every starlet who decides to wear a loose shirt or gain five pounds is declared to have been inseminated by some emo rocker or movie hunk - yes, I'm bitter about the whole Angelina Jolie thing - and Entertainment Tonight goes on "Baby Bump Patrol". I know it's supposed to be cute, but it's not. It sucks, especially when they describe hugely pregnant women who are in their 8th trimester as having a bump. If that's a f*cking bump, what would a lump look like?!?

From hereon hence on Dirkworld®, anyone caught using the phrase "baby bump" within earshot of moi shall be summarily delivered a minimum of three and a maximum of five punches to the ear. Repeat offenses will receive exponentially more severe sanctions. Ya got that, idiots?!? Say the words, enter world of hurt!!!

Nuff said!

Proof That The Internet Is For Porn!

You "Avenue Q" fans get the title. The rest of you can still enjoy this.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Oscars 2008 Running Commentary

From a site that shall remain nameless (to keep the riff-raff away), my running comments on this year's Oscar telecast.

* Lame opening montage.

* Stewart monologue - ”Psychopathic killer Oscar movies”; “his stripper name is Olympia Dukkakis”; “…pick the Democrat you’ll vote for”; “asteroid about to hit”, cut to Spike Lee. Solid set. Grade: B

* I was gonna do the drinking game where you do a shot when they show Jack, but I need to go to work sometime this week.

* Jennifer Garner looks like a girl.

* Why do Costume Design Oscar winners always dress like hobos? Jeez, Hermione thinks Swank looks manly?

* Jeez. In 50 years, they’re going to describing some suave new actor as the “new George Clooney”, aren’t they?

* Props for including the Rob Lowe shot in the montage. Don’t they usually run the filler montages in the middle of the show?

* Anne Hathaway: When bad dresses happen to yummy girls.

* This is the witty banter that we get now that we have the writers back? Is it too late for the strike to restart?

* Katherine Heigl shows how to look like Marilyn Monroe without looking like you’re trying to look like Marilyn Monroe. Hubba-hubba!

* And the shunning of “Norbit” continues.

* How come these people still don’t seem to know where to go after their speeches?

* Wow. Great pipes on Amy Adams, but couldn’t they have found a more whimsical outfit?

* First upset of the evening as The Golden Compass benefits from the vote split between Transformers and Pirates 3 for VFX.

* Crappy Art Direction presentation with them Photoshopping frames from the movie instead of showing actual sketches and paintings.

* Wow, it’s been 10 years since Cuba Gooding Jr. decided that he’d had enough dignity in his career? “Boat Trip”, “Daddy Day Care”, and “Snow Dogs” should’ve prompted a repossession by now.

* Never expected Xavier Bardem to win. (j/k) What did they bleep out?

* The spoof montages were funny. Too bad they didn’t have time to show them.

* Why does Keri Russell always look like she’s Joan Allen’s older sister?

* Using the “August Rush” tune time to look thru the sales papers. Hal Holbrook did the “cabin patch”?

* I’ll bet Tilda Swinton is thinking that she should’ve considered her fashion choices more thoroughly as her award will be overshadowed by all the worst-dressed lists she’ll be topping. Good speech dogging Clooney and his bat suit.

* Loved the adapted screenplay intros with all the writers tapping and scribbling away while the Coens are shown sleeping and angsting. Curious that their speeches were so inarticulate, no?

* Cute film explaining the Oscar process. They left out the part where the PWC guys phone their “bets” into Vegas.

* Miley Cyrus looks like an older version of Ellen Page.

* Whoever designed that dress that minimized Kristen Chenoweth’s awesome sweater kittens needs to be disappeared STAT!

* Funny shtick with the tubby Hebrews from “Superbad” and “Knocked Up”.

* Sound awards: the rivals for the various shorts and docs for who-cares-ness.

* Gee, they’re doing Best Actress early. Marion Cot-uh-something-French wins. She’s prettier in real life. Awwww, Forest gave her a hug.

* So far, the three acting awards have gone to non-Americans and with DDL a slam dunk, it’s going to be a sweep. English, Spanish, French and Irish thespians take the prizes. Someone better not tell Lou Dobbs.

* WTF?!? Did Nintendo pay for that Wii placement?

* I kept waiting for the Glen, the Coldplay wannabe, to drop his pick thru that gaping hole in the top of his guitar. How much do you have to play to grind away that much wood? “Once” is sooooooo overrated, but the song is nice enough.

* I’ve seen 42 of the 79 Best Pic winners - Hermione 36 – including almost all from 1970 on. (I’ve got Midnight Cowboy and Schindler’s List in the stack of DVDs to watch to plug a couple of the holes.)

* “Bourne Ultimatum” is sure cleaning up the technical awards. Could “No Country” be in danger?

* WTF is that tinsel crap around Nicole Kidman’s neck? She looks like she’s been flashing at Mardi Gras.

* Why do I know that MadgeLuva469 is going to run out and buy some hoop earrings like Daniel-Day-Lewis has?

* Honorary Oscar speeches are always scintillating, aren’t they?

* Has anyone heard of ANY of the Foreign Language nominees? Where was “The Kite Runner”? They really need to overhaul the process. How dare the winner invoke the Nazis?!? Doesn’t he know that the Oscars are all about Iraq now? Nazis are so old hat.

* WTF is up with that slick spot by the stage right podium? Colin Farrell said they should fix it and Xenu’s former favorite son almost fell on it.

* Nice to see the “Once” tune win if only because it gives the lowly indie musicians some hope. I didn't hate the movie; it just isn't all that.

* Classy move to have the Russian(?) girl back on to give a secondary speech. Hey, she mentioned indie musicians. She’s reading the Rope backstage?

* WTF is Cameron Diaz wearing? She looks hippier than Jennifer Hudson.

* “There Will Be Milkshakes” gets Cinematography, so it looks like they’re spreading the wealth around. Perhaps Roger Deakens split his vote?

* Hillary “Do I die in this one?” Swank intros the These Are People Who Died montage. Heath Ledger edges Ingmar Bergman in the applause competition. Hermione wonders where Brad Renfro was.

* Gee, Hollyweird finds a use for our soldiers: To inoculate themselves against charges that they’re anti-American and anti-solider with the category that followed their appearance. Not the least bit cynical. Not at all. Pffft.

* HA!!! “Sicko” loses, thus making Michael “There will be a meal served, right?” Moore’s year of defeat complete. Where was Fidel Castro? Did he eat him?!?!?

* True Fact: Diablo Cody is the first Oscar winner to go onstage with an exposed punk girl tattoo since Jessica Tandy won for “Driving Miss Daisy”. Hermione says, “Right now in seedy strip clubs everywhere, the next Great American Movie is being written.”

* Did Bono write Mirren’s speech?

* DD-L wins?!?! Jeez, everyone lost their Oscar pools. Seriously though, if he wasn’t in it this year, it’d be tough to handicap the race because the other performances were solid.

* The Coen Brothers have really come back from “The Ladykillers” and “Intolerable Cruelty”, haven’t they? They’ll have three Oscars to juggle tonight. Literally.

* Overall, a decent show. It moved quickly – overall run time: 3:17 - and had a few sweet moments and no truly dreadful lulls. Jon Stewart was good enough, though I’d rather have Steve Martin. Overall show grade: B+

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Kiss Your Piggy Bank Goodbye Lest You Offend the Religion of Peace.

Europe is in the process of committing cultural suicide as it is being overrun by unassimiliated Muslims. Poisoned by liberalism and multiculturalism, they simply can't bring themselves to suggest to immigrants that perhaps the newcomers should adapt to their new surroundings, preferring to cut their own throats in the hopes that the new neighbors won't be aggrieved into do it to them.

Leading the way is the Netherlands where...

Knorbert the piglet has been dropped as the mascot of Fortis Bank after it decided to stop giving piggy banks to children for fear of offending Muslims.

The decision has been viewed in the Netherlands as the ritual slaughter of a popular pig by political correctness. To some, it is the latest sign of uncertainty in Europe's most tolerant country about how far it should go to accommodate the sensitivities of minorities. It comes as the country is braced for a backlash against the plans of Geert Wilders, a right-wing politician, to release a critical film about the Koran.

Pigs are considered an unclean animal by Muslims and Jews, and Knorbert was culled after seven years as the Fortis mascot. A spokesman told the Dutch media that “Knorbert does not meet the requirements that the multicultural society imposes on us”. The bank added that there had been “a number of reactions to the pig” and that a new gift and character were being developed that would be “fun for children of any persuasion”. Children who had received a Knorbert piggy bank for opening a EuroKids account will be given a junior encyclopaedia instead.
Anyone else spot the irony of "Europe's most tolerant country" bending over and grabbing their ankles for a specific group out of fears that a mascot and piggy bank may not be, you know, TOLERATED?!?

What Treason Media Bias?

Brutally Honest notices that when a police office died while working escort duty for Dubya, the headline was "Bush Motorcade Kills Cop", but when the same thing happened yesterday with an officed with Hillary Clinton, it was "Officer Killed Escorting Clinton." Nice.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Stupid Party Is Stupid

When the obituary for the GOP (bka the Stupid Party) is written, their decision to join the Democrats as tax-and-spenders instead of fiscal hawks should be included.

Bad News That I Missed...Or maybe it didn't get much coverage. Robert Novak writes:
House Republicans showed how much they really care about losing their fiscal responsibility brand when they rejected Rep. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), the leading crusader against earmarks, for a vacancy on the House Appropriations Committee. They picked Rep. Jo Bonner (Ala.), a former House staffer and a consistent supporter of earmarks. Flake's goose was cooked earlier when the House Republican Conference did not unilaterally impose a moratorium on earmarks.
I don't see how Republicans think they can get back to majority status without reclaiming their role as advocates of smaller and more responsible government. Pork helps incumbents of both parties, so the temptation to make it bipartisan is understandable. But if most House Republicans prefer job security in the minority to making a serious effort to regain the majority based on conservative principles, the party is in worse trouble than I thought.
Lovely. Simply lovely.

Dirk's Dish Du Jour: Avril LaVigne

Remember that annoying little snot-nosed Canadian mall-punker who broke thru in 2002 with peppy tunes such as Sk8ter Boi" and "Complicated". Her follow-up album sounded like she'd been listening to too much Evanescence and her latest is good except for a lot of really gratuitous profanity - do we need to hear her declare that she's "a motherf***ing princess" like a gangsta rapperette? Her fashion style, if you can call it that, was a neck tie over a wife-beater and it was a shock when she got married to Sum41 frontman Derrick Whibley in a Vera Wang gown. As she's grown older, she's been dressing less like a ragamuffin, but hadn't really hit the level of "HAWT" for me, even when she was posed topless on the cover of Blender with a big text box over her chest with her quote, "Hell yeah, I'm hot!"

Until now...

I got the new Maxim - the lad mag that allows celebrity chicks to sex up their images without getting as naked as Playboy would require - yesterday and she's the featured cover babe. Ho-hum. She's getting prettier now that she's wearing makeup and decent clothes and isn't jailbait anymore (she's 23 now), but I wasn't prepared to see that she's developed into one fine hottie!


Yowza! Check out the spread here. Avril TheVigne - welcome to the To Do List!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

What? Wait! Dubya Did Something Good?!?

Apparently Bob Geldof didn't get the memo that Dubya is the Great Satan and blundered into praising the President for his aid to Africa.

Mr. Geldof praised Mr. Bush for his work in delivering billions to fight disease and poverty in Africa, and blasted the U.S. press for ignoring the achievement.

Mr. Bush, said Mr. Geldof, "has done more than any other president so far."

"This is the triumph of American policy really," he said. "It was probably unexpected of the man. It was expected of the nation, but not of the man, but both rose to the occasion."

"What's in it for [Mr. Bush]? Absolutely nothing," Mr. Geldof said.

Mr. Geldof said that the president has failed "to articulate this to Americans" but said he is also "pissed off" at the press for their failure to report on this good news story.

"You guys didn't pay attention," Geldof said to a group of reporters from all the major newspapers.
Oh, Bob. Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob...what can I tell you? They were paying attention, but had to bump all the positive stories to make room for endless rehashings of Abu Grahib, phony claims of torture, and a general agenda of America-bashing in order to demoralize the public into reflexively leaping to the banner of "hope" and "change".

If people thought Dubya was doing good works then the public may give him higher approval ratings and that just wouldn't do, now would it? How can the public be browbeaten into believing we're a cruel, rat bastard country that tyrannize the world when they know we're provided relief to those in need around the world? What do you think these journalists are here to do? REPORT THE FACTS?!?!? Dude, they're in it to CHANGE THE WORLD! Just ask them - they aren't interested in the five Ws, just the destruction of one W.

"This videocard made a robot jizz bullets."

Boing Boing Gadgets has a gallery of the worst motherboard and video card box art which should be familiar to anyone who has built a PC from scratch. While I'm more interested in the contents of the package, I have wonder on occasion as to WTF the various weirdness on the cover was meant to convey.


I don't know what sort of technology it takes to incapacitate a robot with bordeom, but Sapphire has done it. Sold.
WARNING: Don't drink beverages while reading this list or else you'll be shopping for a new keyboard and/or monitor.

(h/t Kotaku)

Google: Being Evil For the Power Elites

Google's legendary motto is "Don't be evil." They've been coasting on that myth even as they've collaborated with the Communist Chinese government to oppress their dissidents in exchange for access to 1.2+ billion potential customers and now they are apparently silencing critics of the corrupt United Nations:

Lee is the editor-in-chief, Webmaster and pretty much the only reporter for Inner City Press, a pint-sized Internet news operation that's taken on Goliath-sized entities like Citigroup since 1987.

Since 2005, he's been focusing almost entirely on stories that deal with internal corruption inside the U.N., posting several stores online almost daily.

He's been especially interested in the inner workings of what could be called the practical-applications arm of the international organization, the United Nations Development Programme.

Many of Lee's stories were featured prominently whenever Web users looked for news about the U.N. using the powerful Google News search engine, a vital way for media outlets both large and small to get their articles read.

But beginning Feb. 13, Google News users could no longer find new stories from the Inner City Press.

"I think they said, 'If we can't get this guy out of the U.N., let's disappear him from the Internet,'" Lee said.

Over the last couple of years, Lee has proved to be a constant — and controversial — thorn in the U.N.'s side.

Though his writing is clunky, his methods unorthodox (and often highly annoying) and his news judgment sometimes more than a little off the mark, Lee has hit his share of bullseyes and became an outlet for whistleblowers inside the U.N.

In 2006, for example, he drew attention to human-rights abuses by the Ugandan People's Defense Force during a U.N. disarmament program, including incidents in which four people were killed and over 100 homes destroyed.

In November 2007, during a press conference in which Google announced its partnership with the UNDP to achieve anti-poverty goals, Lee earned a less-than-friendly response when he asked why the Internet company hadn't signed a global human-rights and anti-censorship compact —elements in the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals.

[Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker told FOXNews.com that "Google generally does not sign petitions or join coalitions but prefers to support public-engagement and advocacy efforts through the work of Google.org and by leveraging our products, such as Google Earth."]

It was this incident, says Lee that put him in the crosshairs. Lee said he felt certain that the Internet company and the international agency had now joined forces to make his work less accessible to the public.

"I've been covering almost U.N. stories, three to four a day, for two years, and for the last two years there's been no problem at all," Lee said. "Then that Friday, I received the e-mail. There's something a little skeezy here. I think that Google got involved with the U.N. on these Millennium goals and thought, this is the United Nations, if they tell you some small Web site is a thorn in their side and there's a credible reason you could remove them from your news service, you do it."
As far as the services it provides - premier quality search and tons of free goodies like Gmail and Blogger - Google is the tops, but like many gazillionaire tech outfits, they are operated by elitist "One Worlders" who owe no allegiance to their home countries and consider themselves above jingoistic patriotism, preferring to think of themselves as Anointed Demigods and us poor rabble as pitiful children requiring their alms which flow as manna from their beneficent touch.

Perhaps Google should cop to their attitudes and proclaim that they're "As evil as we want to be."

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Lightening Up With Friday Fivers

It's easy to get depressed when you realize that our next President is likely to be a varying shade of pink to deep red and I'm talking BOTH parties here. So let's try to have fun by catching up with all the Friday Fiver quizzes from 2008 to date.

1. Do you like the thrill of a chase?

That's supposed to be thrilling?

2. What winds you up?

What am I, a clock?

3. Are you a loud talker?

YES!

4. What comes easy to you?

Nothing.

5. What did you dream about recently?

Can't remember, but it was weird.

==================

1. What are you set on?

My chair.

2. What do you have to do right?

Make sweet love.

3. Have any kids?

Not that I'm aware of.

4. Are you patient?

No, I'm feeling OK.

5. Friday fill-in: I know if I put my mind to it ______.

It still won't make a difference.

============

1. What are you missing?

Satisfaction.

2. How do you feel?

Like James Brown: dead.

3. What have you let go?

My responsibilities.

4. Who have you hurt?

No one who didn't deserve it.

5. What do you deserve?

Better and more of it.

=========

1. What do you need?

A lover that just ain't so lazy.

2. What won't you share?

If I were to say, wouldn't that be sharing?

3. What do you hurry through?

The boring stuff.

4. Who is worth waiting for?

Angelina Jolie. (The version prior to her Mia Farrow phase.)

5. Friday fill-in: I can't bear to ______.

Contemplate a future living on our knees under the sword of Islamic rule.

===========

1. Where do you like to walk?

On water, but it freaks people out.

2. What does your hair look like?

Awesomeness!

3. What are you jealous of?

Lame guys who get to bang the hot chicks I like.

4. What kind of promises do you make?

Ones I keep.

5. What makes you stare?

Boobies!

===========

1. What's your favorite shape?

Angelina Jolie.

2. Who is the craziest person you know?

Julie.

3. Sweet, salty or savory?

I dunno. Haven't tasted either of them? Oh, I get it! Um, sweet.

4. Best ice cream topping?

Angelina Jolie.

5. Do you ride horses?

I have, but not in 15 years.

Recipe For An Obama Supporter

While doing the monkey bar swing from one blog to another, I came across one woman's who is a raving Obama lover, having volunteered to canvas in primary states for this naive and radical empty suit, unable to recognize the cognitive dissonance between her statements that anyone voting for Hillary! or Huckabee can't be voting on the issues and her support for a guy whose volunteers are trained to not discuss issues.

As if there was any doubt that this poor girl is an idiot, she has posted the recipe on "how to make a Chrisi":

mix two parts Liberal with one part Socialist. add one venti chai latte. stir.
Nice. She doesn't cop to the fact that there is no functional difference between being a liberal and socialist - not to mention the fascist underpinnings of both - but she tosses in her beverage of choice: a five-dollar (or whatever they cost) Starbucks drink.

Nothing says typical dedicated supporter of Barack Hussein Obama than some clueless twit drinking a coffee that costs more than a pack of smokes (which I'd wager she'd like banned by the government) and believing that they're fighting for freedom instead of slavery.

============

UPDATE: I see on Power Line this morning that there is a minor kerfuffle about Obama's volunteer campaign office in Houston, which prominently displays a Cuban flag bearing an image of Che Guevara:


Obama said the Cuban flag with Che on it was "inappropriate," a criticism slightly more muted than the one he leveled against politicians who wear the American flag on their lapels ("hypocrites"). The Obama campaign emphasizes that this was a volunteer, unofficial office, and that Obama didn't endorse using the image of a mass-murdering terrorist (my words, of course, not theirs) in his campaign.

The incident is significant, however, in that it reveals what sort of change at least some of Obama's supporters think he has in mind. Are they wrong? Maybe, but what has Obama said or done to disabuse them of the idea that he is a Che-admiring leftist?

Then again, maybe these far-left Obama supporters are "confused" because they've been following his votes in the Senate. Obama was one of only 29 Senators who voted to filibuster the provision of the FISA reform bill that extended immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperate with law enforcement and intelligence authorities in identifying international terrorist communications. As Jennifer Rubin points out, this put Obama to the left of liberal stalwarts like Barbara Mikulski. This vote was significant because, just as terrorist supporters try to intimidate citizens by suing "John Does" who report suspicious activities, the terrorists' allies, absent immunity, would have tried to disable intelligence programs by harassing telecom companies with lawsuits.

So, while I assume that Obama's "change" doesn't involve actually emulating mass-murdering terrorists like Che Guevara, it's reasonable to infer that it won't involve doing much to catch them, either.
The identity politics pimps will try to marginalize opponents of Hillary! and Obama by hurling the smears of "RACIST!" and "SEXIST!" as if gender and color bias were the only reasons anyone could oppose these anointed liberal fascists. WRONG!!! If John Edwards was the candidate and held such ultra-radical views - he did spew the usual socialism, but not to this extreme - then sane, freedom-loving people would be rising against him.

I wonder how many ignorant voters think that Obama would be just like President David Palmer from "24". Alas, Palmer was a work of FICTION - there is no such thing has an honorable Democrat who is willing to use force to protect America these days.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

"I'll stagger thru the malted alley..."

I've blogged about my love for Puffy Amiyumi here before - search it for yourselves up top; don't be so dependent! - and generally appreciation for females of the Asian persuasion, but I've never heard of Nochiura Natsumi before stumbling over this awesome video posted at a commenter's blog. In case you've ever wondered what foreign pop singers are saying, wonder no further!

(h/t Amanda Hug'NKiss)

Monday, February 11, 2008

Female Muslim Medics 'Disobey Hygiene Rules'

As if we needed further reminders about how militant Islam is incompatible with modernity:

Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.

Sheffield University also reported a case of a Muslim medic who refused to "scrub" as this left her forearms exposed.

Documents from Birmingham University reveal that some students would prefer to quit the course rather than expose their arms, and warn that it could leave trusts open to legal action.

Hygiene experts said last night that no exceptions should be made on religious grounds.

"I don't think it would be right to make an exemption for people on any grounds. The policy of bare below the elbows has to be applied universally."

Dr Charles Tannock, a Conservative MEP and former hospital consultant, said: "These students are being trained using taxpayers' money and they have a duty of care to their patients not to put their health at risk.

"Perhaps these women should not be choosing medicine as a career if they feel unable to abide by the guidelines that everyone else has to follow."

But the Islamic Medical Association insisted that covering all the body in public, except the face and hands, was a basic tenet of Islam.

"No practising Muslim woman - doctor, medical student, nurse or patient - should be forced to bare her arms below the elbow," it said.
As Mark Hemingway noted on The Corner, "Hey, you know what's really immodest? Claiming your religion as a pretext to justify giving other people staph infections."

I've always said that if you want to test whether some grievance is ridiculous or not, you should try swapping in the adjectives of a Designated Oppressor Group (e.g. white, Christian, male, conservative, heterosexual, etc.) for the po' widdle babies complaining as in this story. It looks like this:
Catholic medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.

Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Catholicism.
How much sympathy would those people get? They'd be told, "Roll up the sleeves and wash or GTFO!!!!", wouldn't they? Duh.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Kwame Sez He Sorry

Heh.

Baby Pandas! Baby Pandas! Baby Pandas!

Gawker has a compilation of terrible CNN.com headlines like...





The latter one drew this comment:

"If mixing rape with romance is wrong, I don't wanna be right. They're my vodka and tonic."
Charming readers there.

(h/t: Digg)