If only...
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Bill Moyers Journal: Sarah Chayes
What an amazing woman. This really is an absolute must see. Straight talk about Afghanistan from someone who knows what she’s talking about. Some of what she has to say might possibly surprise you.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Alberta Election Prediction: Zzzzzzzzz!
Same old, same old... Nothing much will change. Nobody cares. End of story.
Update: What a blowout. A much better result for the PCs than I’d expected. Not quite the “change” Kevin Taft had in mind, I’m sure. Heh. Time to get a new leader and maybe even a new name…
Update2: Poor Dan. Must be disappointing. By the way, the turnout was a woeful 41%. See, I told ya... apathy always wins out in Alberta.
Dona Cadman’s Story
Sure… why not? Sounds about as believable as anything else concerning this shabby affair.
We have a winner!
Oh, and gee, look who it is… (I do so like being right — sometimes, at least.)
Congrats Annie! Nice work.
Meanwhile, inside the PMO...
Stephen Harper and his top legal adviser plot how best to diffuse troublesome allegations swirling around the “Cadman Affair”…
Disclaimer: The foregoing is not intended as an accurate representation of Stephen Harper, Richard Dearden, the Prime Minister’s Office or any other government body. Any reference to the so-called “Cadman Affair” (or “CadScam”) is made with due notation that it may or may not be a pack of specious lies retailed by the widow and daughter of a deceased politician who may or may not have been addlepated by medication during the terminal stages of cancer, or it may or may not be part of an effort to promote an upcoming biography of the aforementioned deceased politician.
President Medvedev… Get Used to It
Why on earth are so many bobbleheads in the mainstream media claiming that his name is practically impossible for them to pronounce? Good grief, is this how witless these spokesbots have become? And at the same time we’re supposed accept their declaration that the Russian election was a fraud and “undemocratic”… Yeah, quite unlike the elections in Afghanistan and Iraq… and, for that matter, America! Give us a friggin break.
Buried lede bonus: “Russia, which has long competed with other powers for influence in Afghanistan, is seeking a greater role in economic projects there…”
Francis Bacon
If you have the interest and/or patience to wade through this dinky but curiously charming old LWT film, it provides some quite intriguing insights into what might be referred to as Bacon’s “insouciant habituations” and his rather petulant, bitchy disposition (quite amusing to see him get progressively drunk at some points — now there’s something you wouldn’t see these days.) His cheerful embrace of a paradoxically optimistic nihilism is also revealed here (although he’s half in the tank when he does so…) If nothing else, you’ve gotta love the intro with the Webber/Paganini Variation…
The Oldest Story in the World?
Seems to make sense to me, but maybe I’m missing something... (This is from the last presidential campaign, by the way... four long years ago.)
Patrick Ross: Caped Crusader! (Updated)
How interesting…
“This isn’t about playing nice with people who won't play by the same rules — it’s about forcing them to, whether they like it or not.
We’ve already revealed a few of them. And if others don’t clean up their act, more will follow.”
Well goody then. I’m sure we’ll soon be seeing the full identities of many right-wing bloggers such as “Joanne” at “Blue Like You” and Fred over at “Gay and Right,” along with “Canadian Sentinel,” and the infamous “Neo” at the “Halls of Macademia,” not to mention a whole pile of others revealed for all to see and publicly scrutinize for whatever purpose seen to be fit, right?
Update: Well, here’s a brilliant new twist for you… In his latest attempt to feebly justify his wild overreaction, Mike Brock now contends that is was the fact that Beemer was using a “work computer” and posting from his place of employment that made him fair game for attempting to ruin his career. Apparently, that’s the “the nuance that everyone is missing.” Um, yeah. Whatever. Bad enough that he shifted the goalposts of his argument by suggesting there was a “contract” involved and, not only that, but an “implied contract” (just to vaguely fuzzify things a bit more), and then obfuscate about the way his new blog software handles “anonymous” comments so… you know… they’re not really anonymous and no sensible person in their right might should have ever taken his plain offer to comment anonymously at face value. And blah, blah, blah…
Also, while visiting Mr. Ross’ Toilet of Assholery, it’s learned that mentioning the act of fellatio is apparently somehow “homophobic” in nature. Way to miss the point by a few million light years. No, the vulgar allegation suggested by Beemer was clearly and quite obviously one of sycophancy; an expression that has long been associated with “sucking dick” because of the inherently submissive connotations common to both acts. Are these people really so profoundly ignorant as to not realize this simple relationship?
Queerer Than We Suppose
Speaking of Wilde’s proposition... Here’s a lecture from the wonderful TED conferences, by Richard Dawkins on “The strangeness of science,” in which he suggests that the true nature of the universe eludes us, because the human mind evolved only to understand the “middle-sized” world we can observe. As an unabashed admirer of David Hume, this is a concept that I find remarkably appealing.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
About That “Civility” Thingee…
From the very same bunch of people who routinely wring their hands in despair and moan so plaintively about the awful “name-calling” and the woeful lack of “civility” in our political discourse these days (blaming it all on the wickedly immoral, “potty mouth” moonbats of the “leftosphere” of course)... Just for fun, here’s a sampling of comments from a mere couple of threads over at Mike Brock’s blog. You know, the same fellow who thought it perfectly justifiable to publicly humiliate someone, destroy his reputation and ruin his career because he got so indignantly outraged about that person figuratively suggesting that he continuously fellates the Dear Leader.
Compiled from remarks made by his “conservative” commenters in the past day or so, herewith are some of the edifying descriptions of “liberals” (or as his fans often prefer to call them, “Leftards” or “Leftbots”) as well as others (hello, Moderates!) who don’t tow the party line:
Hateful; angry; offensive; hypocritical; bullshitters; asswipes; disgusting; stupid; morons; filthy; idiots; demented; wackos; racists; scummy; vicious; trolls; smug; juvenile; cowards; infantile; inarticulate; arrogant; homophobic, homoerotic; intellectually retarded; puss-filled; smear artists; perverts; vile; drooling sycophants; troglodytes; &etc.
I could go on... Doubtless one could mine through the comments of Mr. Brock for many more examples of such high-minded discourse. I must say, it’s more than a little funny how rather selective his sense of outrage and sanctimonious decency is.
This weekend reminded me in a very pointed way of what’s so nasty and off-putting about political blogging. It really does bring out the very worst instincts in some people.
Oscar Wilde is reputed to have said, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Who knows... maybe at the heart of that pithy little epigram resides the critical difference between the Left and the Right.
Why Religion Sucks: Part LXVIII
Pastor John Hagee, the rotund, right-wing, Pentecostal televangelist, founder of Cornerstone Church, and JHM Ministries, who endorses John McCain, and who predicts in his book “Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World” that Russian and Arab armies will invade Israel and be destroyed by God. Israel will then be the site of a battle between China and the West which will be led by the Anti-Christ in his role as the head of the European Union, but then Jesus will return and… as if you haven’t already guessed… Win! Hallelujah!
Ladies and gentlemen, I submit that we’re living in a world gone mad.
Tales from the Service Economy: Pooper Scoopers
Worried about the impending financial tailspin? Err, wait… I mean “recession”… or should that be an “economic slowdown”? Well, whatever. That whole creeping rust-belt syndrome that’s hollowing out our manufacturing sector thanks to skyrocketing oil prices, tanking of the sub-prime housing market, the sinking dollar, the offshoring of jobs to the third-world and burgeoning communist superpowers like China… You know, all that scary stuff that Lou Dobbs incessantly rattles on about.
Well, stop your needless fretting unskilled worker bees, because there are plenty of jobs in the new “service economy”! No, not engineering, computer programming or complex stuff like that requiring education in science and the maths… I mean like the latest new growth industry in the amazing “World of the Future” service sector — cleaning up the turds left behind by the pets of busy-on-the-go professionals of our brilliant “asset class” who don’t have time to bother with pesky details like cleaning up their own dogshit.
Strange Bedfellows
Stop the presses! Hell has frozen over and rural Saskatchewan has been inundated with flying pigs. In other news, Kate McMillan agrees with Ted Kennedy! Yes, when it comes to wind farms, they both think that they’re an eyesore. Somehow related to this selfish NIMBY observation is a story about a recent temporary “electrical emergency” in Texas that was triggered by a drop in wind power generation combined with peak usage related to cold weather. Apparently, this is part of Kate’s ongoing campaign to deride and mock the notion of alternative energy sources at every opportunity. If a turbine fails during a torrential storm somewhere around the world, you can bet SDA will be on the case (with exciting video footage!) suggesting they’re infeasible.
Quite frankly, I find this reactionary attitude, not only with regards to dealing in any constructive sort of way with the effects of climate change, but towards dismissing any fossil fuel alternatives as viable potential solutions, to be quite puzzling. Does the fact that no less a corporate icon, arch-conservative and oil magnate than T. Boone Pickens is building the world’s largest wind farm not perhaps give folks like Kate pause for thought to consider that perhaps they’re backing the wrong horses when it comes to our long-term energy future…?
Real Time: 02/29/08 - Part 1 & 2 (Monologue & Cuban “Election” Results)
Good show with a great panel this week by the way: Harry Shearer, Shashi Tharoor, and Christopher Hitchens. Some interesting discussion about the election, religious belief (surprise!) and Obama’s unique appeal. Apparently, Hitchens is finding himself “a little queer for Obama” which I thought was fairly amusing.
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