It was inevitable, I suppose.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The Dramatic Cat!
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 1:24 AM 0 backtalks
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
CFE: The Speech McCain Will Never Give
The Background: Michelle Malkin had an ad that John McCain is running against Barry "Just call me 'Lord'" O'Bama.
Michelle commented:
Good stuff.Based on the idea that it was a savvy move, I posted:Well, except for the part about McCain’s own weak, flip-flop-flippy record on drilling.
Sigh.
***
Allahpundit on the “Celeb” ad: “Surprisingly savvy.”
If McCain had the slightest bit of political savvy, he’d go to ANWR, see that it’s a wasteland and then make this statement:
“I have been opposed to drilling here because I was of the belief that it would be the same as drilling in the Grand Canyon or the Everglades, both national treasures that attract legions of tourists to visit. However, while the Grand Canyon hosts and average of five million visitors per year, last year the ANWR had only 880 visitors, an average of less than 2-1/2 people per day. There are no roads or resorts or attractions to visit.
As much as I share the desire of many to preserve as much of our wilderness in their pristine state, there are other concerns we have as a nation. Our economy is experiencing a slowdown and the cost of energy is hurting American families on a daily basis. They feel it when they pump gas, buy an airline ticket, buy groceries, or even order a pizza. The cost of energy is soaring due to the basic forces of supply and demand and as a global economy competes for limited resources, the price goes up.
While we must endeavor to develop new, clean alternatives to petroleum and dirty coal, we need to also expand our current supplies because the transition to the energies of the future won’t occur overnight and energy is needed now. It makes no sense to send $700 billion a year overseas to countries, many of whom do not like the United States, when we have untapped resources right here in America. It would be like living on a farm, but going to the supermarket for food and complaining about the prices.
Drilling in ANWR would only affect an area of about 2000 acres - the size of Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. It would create an estimated minimum of 250,000 well-paying jobs for American workers with the possibility of three times that. Polls show that 75% of Alaskans support drilling. Since they live here, they obviously are interested in protecting their environment and if they believe drilling can be done in an environmentally-sound manner, who are we in the Lower 48 states to tell them they are wrong?
My opponent and the Democrats have repeatedly blocked sensible proposals that would enhance our national security and provide relief to our citizens’ wallets and pocketbooks. They say that no benefits would come from drilling for a decade, but in the past few week we’ve seen the price of a barrel of oil fall $25 just because President Bush rescinded the Executive Order blocking offshore drilling. Not one more drop of oil has actually been produced, but the market has already responded, bringing a small measure of relief to American families. Imagine how much more the price will come down when we actually bring our natural resources to market.
It’s easy to be stubborn and do nothing rather than have to admit you were originally wrong. Just as I stood up to demand a change in the course of the Iraq War, supporting the surge that has brought us to within victory’s grasp; the surge my opponent refused to support and to this day refuses to acknowledge worked; I am now standing up to what I believed, but now I know was incorrect. My opponents will portray this change as a flip-flop or a cave-in to special interests like Big Oil. Neither could be farther from the truth, but I don’t care what insults they launch at me because I know this change will help America’s families, her economy, and her all-important national security.
While I have made a life delivering Straight Talk®, I have also heard the straight talk of you, the American people. You want us to tap our resources and be less reliant on uncertain foreign energy supplies. I have heard the people and I have visited ANWR and now I believe that to not extract the benefits or our God-given resources from our own lands would be a dereliction of duty that I could not bear to let occur to the land that I love so dearly and have acted as a humble servant to my whole life.
Thank you, and God bless America.”
But he’s not smart; he’s not savvy; he’s “freaked out about global warming”; and he’s in thrall to the Treason Media’s environmental extremism and antipathy to capitalism.
That speech and those actions would turn the tide for McCain and the Stupid Party. People would rally to their colors because they’d finally be acting in the interests of the people and nation and not their own timid self-interests.
That’s why we’re sooooooooooooo screwed.
This attracted several positive comments, including this from mom2jack:
Dirk, you just wrote a great McCain speech! You should post it as a comment on his site.
While I drafted my reply, someone else asked, "Why bother?" I replied:
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 4:52 PM 0 backtalks
File Under: comments from elsewhere, economics, mccain
Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet
Man, The Onion rules!
Young Gore sets out for his new home, where the sky is clear, the water is clean, and there are no Republicans.
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 4:15 PM 0 backtalks
File Under: global warming, gore, humor
"If You Want A Recession, Vote For Obama"
Thus is the headline at Power Line referencing a story at the Wall Street Journal that runs the numbers on Barry "Just call me 'Lord'" O'Bama's socialist economic proposals which looks like this:
And means...
The top 35% marginal income tax rate rises to 39.6%; adding the state income tax, the Medicare tax, the effect of the deduction phase-out and Mr. Obama's new Social Security tax (of up to 12.4%) increases the total combined marginal tax rate on additional labor earnings (or small business income) from 44.6% to a whopping 62.8%. People respond to what they get to keep after tax, which the Obama plan reduces from 55.4 cents on the dollar to 37.2 cents -- a reduction of one-third in the after-tax wage!But, hey, the Europeans love him and he's not old, so what's the problem? CHANGE! HOPE!
The tired lie about McCain - of whom I'm no fan - is that he's running for Dubya's third term. The sad truth about Obama is that he's looking to have Jimmy Carter's second term - with all its geopolitical terror and economic misery - but much, MUCH worse.
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 12:18 AM 0 backtalks
CFE: Malkin Is Told, "You Hate Yourself."
The Background: Michelle Malkin was reading her hate mail and posted a typical missive from another of those oh-so-tolerant-and-diverse college student types. Read the link for the original story, but here was how I deconstructed the nonsense:
This guy liked it.Babblings like these are a goldmine of opportunities for rebuttal. Like this:
Hello Ms. Malkin,
Michelle is married, so that should be MRS. Malkin, you Gloria Steinem wannabe.
My name is Stephanie and I m a 20 year old college student from Atlanta, Georgia.
Translation: “I’m a totally brainwashed zombie who believes herself to be an open-minded free thinker.”
After watching you on Fox News Channel, I decided to read your writings.
That’s funny, when I see Hannity and O’Reilly on FNC, I don’t want to read their stuff. OTOH, when I see Mark Steyn, I want to bear his children.
I would like to express my complete and total disdain for you.
I would like Angelina Jolie to stop breeding and adopting, dump Brad and the kids, and come take me away to a tropical island to while the rest of our days away in carnal ecstasy, but no one is interested in what I’d like either.
You are so racist. Yes,I said it. You hate yourself.
I thought racism was about hating others. Did something change and I missed the memo about it?
You are Asian my dear not white.
1. You’re missing a couple of commas there, babe.
B. Your ability to identify racial characteristics is only surpassed by your tendency to be incomprehensible as to your point.
The way you talk about other minorities is disgusting. The condescending tone a lot of your writings have show what kind of person you are.
Translation: “I can’t articulate what offends me about your views, but suffice to say you are a big meaniehead. The fact that I am being condescending to you is merely a sign of the hereditary irony-deficiency that runs in my family.”
It saddens me to see someone with your talent and charisma use it for such disgusting things.
If Stephanie was John McCain, she would’ve included a “my friend” in there someplace.
I’m sure you’re satisfied with yourself but I just wanted to let you know that you shouldn’t be.
Anyone else get the feeling that if Stephie’s friend was all happy with a new outfit, she’d tell them it made their butt look fat?
You can do so much better for yourself.
Let’s see: Married to a lucky SOB, lovely kids, percolating multi-media career. My goodness, Michelle’s life is such a howling void of emptiness! Until she wins the lottery and/or gets her kids a unicorn that poops gold bars, I guess she’ll have to suffer.
Read up on your history and figure out who you are because it is very apparent that you have no clue.
Is she saying that Michelle needs to buy 6000 pairs of shoes?
I will readily admit that you are very intelligent, however your ignorance overshadows anything that i could have learned from you.
Coincidentally, Michelle probably has the inverse opinion of Stephanie.
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 12:03 AM 0 backtalks
File Under: comments from elsewhere, racism
Monday, July 28, 2008
Cuil Rhymes With "Fool", But Means "Epic Fail!"
Saw a link off Drudge and then this story about the latest "Google killer" called Cuil.
The end result is Cuil, pronounced "cool." Backed by $33 million in venture capital, the search engine plans to begin processing requests for the first time Monday.Sounds awesome? It isn't.
Cuil had kept a low profile while Patterson, her husband, Tom Costello, and two other former Google engineers _ Russell Power and Louis Monier _ searched for better ways to search.
Now, it's boasting time.
For starters, Cuil's search index spans 120 billion Web pages.
Patterson believes that's at least three times the size of Google's index, although there is no way to know for certain. Google stopped publicly quantifying its index's breadth nearly three years ago when the catalog spanned 8.2 billion Web pages.
Cuil won't divulge the formula it has developed to cover a wider swath of the Web with far fewer computers than Google. And Google isn't ceding the point: Spokeswoman Katie Watson said her company still believes its index is the largest.
First, the name is the worst since Ben Affleck/Jennifer Lopez flop "Gigli", which looked like it should be pronounced "giggly", but was actually "ghee-lee". "Coo-ill"? "Coo-isle"? How the heck do you pronounce it?!? FAIL!!!
Secondly, I did the first most-obvious thing you can do with a search engine - search yourself - and with Cuil, here's what I got:
Sorry, an error occurred.Uh-oh. o_O
Please try your search again. If the problem persists, please be assured that our team is working quickly to resolve the issue.
Running the same searches on Google for both my name and that of my good twin brought up 19,400 and 169,000 hits, respectively. Granted, not all of those results are specifically me (my good twin has a very prominent namesake, it seems), but there's a big difference between some and none. Earlier today, the good twin search at Cuil got me scolded to check the spelling.
With a killer tag team of a stupid, unpronounceable name and crappy results, I hereby declare Cuil a fuilish failure. Nuff said!
UPDATE: A day later, legendary tech curmudgeon John C. Dvorak concurs, saying, "The New Cuil Search Engine Sucks!" The punchline?
This over-hyped product is just another dead-end as far as I can tell. Oh, and the name is stupid too.As I was saying.
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 3:25 PM 0 backtalks
File Under: technology
Thursday, July 24, 2008
CFE: Al Gore's Doomsday Clock
The Background: Digg story to a WSJ opinion piece about Al Gore's environmental insanity and hypocrisy. A poster wrote, "The sappy liberal environmentalist lemmings worship this clown," leading a typical Digger to snarl, "Funny how the corporate loving neo-cons have no alternative other than to continue to rape & plunder our only planet. And you wonder why we think people like you are stupid.", to which I responded:
The fact that sneering fascist liberals like you - who are probably atheist as far as God goes, but fervent worshipers of ManBearPig, a wholly fictional thing - are looking down your nose at the people who actually look to the FACTS and not the hysterical LIES of global warming hysterics like the Goreacle is the laugh here.Checking back to the thread, the moron I was responding to had followed up with this typical peristaltic issuance of liberal propaganda:
Instead of sneering, why not school your ignorant ass starting with the FACT that there is no evidence of the greenhouse effect despite years of looking for it. David Evans, who WAS Australia's chief climate change panic monger is a rare man with the intellectual honesty to admit he was wrong and the facts don't support the fear. (Link) FTA: "But since 1999 new evidence has seriously weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause of global warming, and by 2007 the evidence was pretty conclusive that carbon played only a minor role and was not the main cause of the recent global warming. As Lord Keynes famously said, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
What arrogant fascist liberals do is attack the messenger rather than accept that they've worshiped a false god in the form of ManBearPig. It's hard to call other people stupid when you've been a total fool yourself. You sling around ad hominems like "corporate loving neo-cons" and probably think you're living a "reality-based existence" when the truth is you're wrong on top of being an asshole.
Gore is a pathetic fool with daddy issues who was told by his racist father that he was going to grow up to be President. He marked time being p-whipped by Tipper into censoring rock music and when he failed as a candidate himself, he latched onto Clinton's apron strings, only to fail to the mediocre Dubya. Such a emo pussy he was, he dragged the nation thru a month of hell while he tried to sue his way into the office his daddy told him was his birthright instead of manning up and accepting that he lost a close one because he was a tool who people didn't like; sighing, arrogant prick he was.
Given the choice of fading away, he decided to re-invent himself as Savior of the Entire Human Race and from his giant mansion which uses 20,000% more energy than a normal home, he flies his private jet and travels in SUV convoys from place to place to lecture us about how we need to live in dark caves to "save the planet". HA! EnvironMENTAL nutcases make Scientologists look like mainstream Christians in comparison.
The anti-global warming deniers are all voice pieces of the Rovian political machine. Doesn't take that much to understand how ignorant you people are.I posted a link to a SCIENTIST who dared speak Truth to the lunatics that they've been worshiping the false god of ManBearPig and this guy actually responds that "free thought makes no sense to people like you"?!?
Until you can prove that you didn't vote for the current neo-con administration, don't listen to the neo-con talking heads and don't buy into 21st century "conservatism", i'll stand by my statement that you're all a bunch of circle jerking neo-cons spooging over each others lunatic ideas.
You guys have absolutely nothing to stand on outside of discrediting people you can't fathom to understand. Thats a regression of humanity. Free thought makes no sense to people like you.
Is there a vitamin supplement people like this can take for irony-deficiency? Madness!
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 10:14 AM 6 backtalks
File Under: comments from elsewhere, global warming
Introducing "Comments From Elsewhere"
While I've been lax about posting stuff here, I've noticed I've been sharing my wisdom all over the Web on various comment sections which could've just as well been posted here. So they don't just float away on other data streams, I'll be copying some of them here as well along with links to the source pages where they appeared. Items will be headlined with a "CFE: [topic]" format.
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 10:09 AM 0 backtalks
File Under: comments from elsewhere
Free Speech Rights Fade Farther Away.
Ever notice how you can't read a paper, watch TV, or peruse teh Intarwebz, all you hear is an endless parade of liberals whining about how there has been a "chilling" of free speech because their anti-American/anti-Dubya tirades haven't been met by the proletariat with the same enthusiasm as their fellow travelers in the elite salons of the 212 and 818 area codes. Oh, boo hoo, the po' widdle Dixie Chicks had to settle with how many Grammys in exchange for sh*tting all over their American fans who so disowned them, they had to flee to Canada to find a sympathetic audience of America-haters.
Speaking of those smug folks up North - or actually down South of where Dirkworld® is - the column "What's the Matter With Canada?" by Chuck Colson calls attention to the genuine crackdown on freedom of speech that's going on by "human rights tribunals" who have no compunctions about punishing those who dare offend the wrong pressure groups.
How is this for irony? Recent actions by Canadian human rights groups have observers alarmed for the state of human rights in Canada. That is because the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal do not give a fig about protecting human rights. Their mission is suppressing free speech.Only the most irony-deficient liberal could not notice that while they cry all boo-boo-kitty about their non-loss of their rights - no one is ordering them to STFU or else government will stomp them - they are cheerfully enjoying the silencing of those they disagree with under the rubric of "tolerance" and "diversity".
Maclean’s magazine was hauled before these two “quasi-judicial” bodies when it published excerpts from Mark Steyn’s popular book America Alone. Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Congress charged that the content of these excerpts about the expansion of radical Islam “subjects Canadian Muslims to hatred and contempt.”
The Canadian Human Rights Commission dismissed the complaint, but the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal got in on the act. It investigated the charges in what bloggers on the scene called a “kangaroo court,” and has yet to issue a ruling. But there is a greater cause for concern here: As the Calgary Herald pointed out, Maclean’s has the money to fight the charges—but not everyone does. The Herald gloomily predicted, “Let a citizen of modest means utter a politically incorrect thought: He will be crushed.”
That is what happened to the Reverend Stephen Boissoin. In a letter to the editor in the Red Deer Advocate, he protested the homosexual agenda, and was hauled off before the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The complaint—sound familiar?—was that Boissoin’s words were “likely to expose homosexuals to hatred or contempt because of their sexual orientation.”
The panel ordered “that Mr. Boissoin . . . shall cease publishing in newspapers, by e-mail, on the radio, in public speeches, or in the internet, in the future, any disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals.” He was also ordered to apologize in writing for the article, and was fined.
As the Catholic Exchange reports, “In essence, the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal is ordering . . . the minister to renounce his Christian faith, since his opposition to homosexuality is based upon the Judeo-Christian Bible.” The article went on to observe that a prominent Canadian priest, Father Alphonse de Valk, is now being investigated “for having publicly defended the Church’s traditional definition of marriage. Some of [his] allegedly hateful statements are quotations from the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
This is what Pope Benedict calls the “dictatorship of relativism.” In the name of tolerance—or of someone’s twisted idea of that concept—we have to protect everyone’s sensitivities. Nobody can say anything that might make someone feel like a victim of hatred and contempt. And thus we back into a soft despotism, which suppresses free speech and eradicates religious freedom.
Where is this going to end? Will it become a crime even to be a Christian in Canada? Will opposition to radical Islam be routinely punished? Here in America, we already know you can get in hot water for opposing gay marriage—like the Christian photographers who refused to take pictures at a lesbian civil ceremony, and ended up being fined by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission.
Make no mistake. If Canadians do not stand up for their religious and free speech rights, they will soon be gone. And so will ours. For what happens in the beautiful country to the north of us often affects our so-called “enlightened elites” in the United States.
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 9:44 AM 0 backtalks
File Under: culture, government, steyn
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Two Reasons Why Danica Patrick Shouldn't Wear Bikinis.
Danica Patrick is probably the only thing keeping Indy car racing afloat. She's been competitive enough to make some of the male racers whiny bitches about her having an unfair advantage because she's only four feet tall (from the looks of her) and weighing 50 pounds. (Why we never hear a peep from those mooks when they lose to heavier MEN is a good question.)
Like many photogenic athletes - of both sexes - she has reaped numerous endorsements and posed for "sexy" photos and that's not really a problem, though it does sorta diminish her in a macho-fueled sport like auto racing, but as you can see in these pictures...
...she's not being very well served by whoever is styling these shoots. The top one is OK, I guess, considering she looks pissed off, but WTF is up with the bottom one?!? When you're built like a 12-year-old BOY, perhaps a tight bandeau top isn't the best showcase for your assets. (Or boobsets, in this case.) She makes pre-boob job-and-children Gwen Stefani...
...look like Jayne Mansfield in comparison.
While I prefer more substantive chesticles - I likes teh tig-ol'-bitties! - there are plenty of quite hot babes rocking the no-need-for-a-bra lifestyle like Keira Knightly, Selma Blair, Charlize Theron, Gwen Stefani and (while not my taste) Natalie Portman. Fashion designers prefer flatter models because the lines of the clothes hang straighter.
This isn't a call for her to stuff a couple of gallons of silicone into her chest and become a Pamela Anderson-grade freak, but a gentle suggestion that if she doesn't want to alter herself (and why should she?), then not to present herself in a manner that evokes shock and awwwww reactions. If Danica wants to play the tart, so be it; I'd just prefer she look the part better or consider different garb.
UPDATE: Well, how's this for timing? Shortly after I posted this, I stumbled over a web gallery that included this shot:
What sort of stuffing, padding and airbrushing went in to that?!?
UPDATE #2: Here's a close up of the area in question showing off both her swelling bosom and come-hither mien. (Yes, that's sarcasm.)
Don't get caught bad-touching yourself!
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 8:34 PM 1 backtalks
File Under: babes, commentary, sports
Rush On The Colbert Report
No, not Limbaugh. RUSH! You know, RUSH! Doesn't anyone watch "Freaks & Geeks"?
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 9:26 AM 0 backtalks
File Under: music
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
So, I Stopped at Trader Joe's....
...to buy some wheat crackers for the leftover Colby Jack cheese I had on hand because I it was closer to home than Kroger's and I didn't feel like shopping. It's been a while since I've been there and I haven't been in since they purged most of the staff - my neighbor across the hall and his girlfriend worked there; they've since moved - and I really noticed the changes.
They rearranged the items drastically - the coolers inside the front door that held the cheeses and bad mass-produced faux sushi were replaced with cut flowers and the staff had a different look to them; no longer the Bonnaroo hippie folks that used to be there. More striking was the clientele. With the exception of a young nurse (in scrubs), the customers overwhlemingly consisted of butch lesbians, Obama supporters and Apple Mac worshipers.
Not that I have a problem with butch lesbians, mind you.
Anyhoo, I got a small box of Wheat Thin knockoffs for a decent price, though the box was half-air - why doesn't the Goreacle campaign for right-sized boxes? - the crackers themselves were pretty good. The last time I bought wheat crackers from TJ's, they were salty as heck. Not very tasty or healthy.
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 12:18 AM 0 backtalks
File Under: stuff and nonsense
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
LOLcat du jour.
This one is particularly brilliant:
more cat pictures
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 1:11 PM 0 backtalks
File Under: lolcats
Friday, July 04, 2008
"Oh, good. My velociraptor was delivered."
I was walking into my work a couple of days ago and there was this huge opened crate inside the doorway and the title of this post is what I said to a colleague about it.
Smacked down by Dirk Belligerent at 3:18 AM 0 backtalks
File Under: stuff and nonsense
C'est la whatever.