Maybe you’ll start paying more attention to Colbert’s “Threat Down” from now on…
By the way that Wikiality, The Truthiness Encyclopedia is new to me. Funny stuff.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Bears: Godless Killing Machines
“Canada’s Biggest Mistake” – “Teh Stupid” Take
Before launching into his own ridiculous take on what he sees as “Canada’s Biggest Mistake” (following on the series of columns on that theme published recently by The National Post) The Politic’s Matthew promptly insults all of his readers/commenters at the outset by admitting that usually he’s too busy with more important matters or pressing exigencies to actually read anything they might have to say — which unfortunately for him usually consists of people taking issue with the fact-free, God-bothering rubbish that he posts at The Politic. Nonetheless, he invites other Blogging Tories to let him know if they’re interested in “participating” in his pissy little gripe-fest.
Well, never mind that minor faux-pas. Let’s see what “Canada’s Biggest Mistake” is according to St. Matthew. You may already have guessed from the video I posted. Yes, it’s PUBLIC EDUCATION! According to this pompous, self-righteous twatwaffle, public education is arguably responsible for: Canada’s “poor performance in the world”; a “narcissistic and euthanasia-bent society”; the “crumbling of our ability to govern ourselves”; and so on. As we’ve said here many times before, this is typical of the virulent Canada-hating by our so-called “Conservatives.”
It sounds quite dreadful, but what on earth does the “crumbling of our ability to govern ourselves” even mean… and how is the public school system responsible for this deeply mysterious affliction? Does our school system really inculcate children with a desire to pursue policies of euthanasia? Certainly not that I’m aware of, but hey, what would I know… I’ve only got four grown kids. As for promoting narcissism, I’m sure those engaged in the fields of advertising and marketing, as well as our political leaders and media élites will be tremendously relieved to learn that, contrary to conventional wisdom, they’re in no way responsible for contributing to these unfortunate societal trends. Now they’re off the hook, let’s put the blame back where it belongs: with public school teachers!
And what’s up with this “poor performance in the world” bullshit? The last time I checked, our rates of productivity were amongst the highest in the world and by any number of measures Canada is an outstanding, world-class performer in many different respects from tax competitiveness to overall health, well-being and quality of life. Ah, but not in the topsy-turvy world of Matthew it seems where, “the over-bearing and scofflaw unions” (those perfidious teachers again) “indoctrinate our children year after year.” The horror! Oh, and not only that, but apparently these money-grubbing parasites and their greedy union overlords are also responsible for “the massive debts that our provincial governments have accumulated because they got tangled in the teaching domain in the first place.”
So, what’s Matthew’s alternative to “having big government pay for every little boy and girl’s enlightenment”? Um, well you know that’s the interesting thing… He doesn’t seem to have one at all. Short of pointing to the “sparsely populated elitist, religious and cultural private schools” that he falsely claims “consistently [out-perform] the government systems in the western world” he offers precisely nothing in the way of a comprehensive alternative solution. And yet, he suggests that by simply abolishing the public education system and presumably letting the chips fall where they may, “We’d become the new Japanese,” But of course, being the completely dishonest hack and profoundly ignorant retard that he is, Matthew fails to note (or perhaps may simply not be aware of) the fact that 99% of elementary schooling in Japan is public with that figure dropping slightly to 95% at the secondary level. So, if our aim is emulate the Japanese, we seem to have a serious logical problem here in asserting that somehow public education is the root of all evil.
Unfortunately, this isn’t just a case of Matthew being an ignorant fool; it’s entirely typical of the “Blogging Tories” and, the “Conservative” Party in general. These folks are mighty quick to demonize “big government” as the cause of all problems and to feverishly decry this or that factor as being directly responsible for various societal aspects they passionately HATE about Canada, but they have precious little to offer in the way of viable, practicable alternatives. Rather than attempting to improve the system or address existing problems in a meaningful or substantive way, they’d rather just break it altogether, pitch it in the scrap heap, and then allow “the market” to work its ineffable magic — this apparently is their idea of a “solution” more often than not, but of course it’s incredibly remote from being anything of the sort. Is it any wonder that so many of these vacuous, intellectually lazy idiots also believe in the supernatural and despise science and rational thought?
Seeing as Matthew doesn’t read anyone’s comments as a rule, I suggest we all return the favour and not read his fatuous postings in future. I’m sure we’ve all got better things to do than waste time on such arrogant, howling stupidity.
Update: As if further proof of the profound idiocy running amuck at The Politic, behold contributor Charles confessing for the record that “I genuinely believe the world is 10,000 years old AND I believe in natural selection. I just do not believe we come from apes.” Good grief. I’d venture to guess that he didn’t learn THAT nonsense in public school.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Too Cool
The World According to Matthew
It seems creationists like The Politic’s Matthew had it right all along.
This video succinctly explains how.
Update: Some more hilarity. (Sarcasm alert! But then you knew that already, right?)
CPC: A “Big Tent” or “Big Top” Party?
I think we can expect to be seeing some of this in a future political ad.
Update: It seems that some of us just aren’t interpreting things in good faith.
Speaking of Retards...
There’s so much risible, downright fallacious crap in Matthew’s latest post that it’s difficult to know where to start, but let’s just take one assertion to begin with:
The movie also did deal with the Hitler-Darwin connection, admitting that not every Darwinist will become a Nazi, but suggesting that Darwinism does lend itself nicely to eugenics and the bloodbath that has been many atheistic regimes throughout the 20th century (see current news on China for more details…). Could the Darwinists counter this claim? I don’t know, but that’s only because they haven’t seriously tried yet except to collectively say “nuh-uh”
Complete and utter bullshit. This issue has been addressed by atheists (pretty much all of whom are “Darwinists”) countless times. In fact, Christopher Hitchens devotes an entire chapter of his book God is not Great to this spurious claim: “An Objection Anticipated: The Last-Ditch ‘Case’ Against Secularism.” So, quite simply put, Matthew has proven, once again, that he’s not only profoundly retarded, but is also a big, fat LIAR. Oh, and by the way, Hitler was Christian and claimed in Mein Kampf that what he was doing, he was doing for God.
Old Canard Update: And another thing... I should have stated this in the original post, but the “Darwinism” that Matthew is suggesting as “lend[ing] itself nicely to eugenics and the bloodbath that has been many atheistic regimes throughout the 20th century” is actually “Social Darwinism” that has nothing to do with Darwin’s theory of evolution. In fact, that term only came into vogue in 1944 by the American historian Richard Hofstadter. The notion of eugenics and similar theories predate Darwin’s publication of On the Origin of Species and is more closely related to the ideas of the 18th century clergyman Thomas Malthus, Francis Galton and others.
Dear Media Overlords…
Look, I realize you folks have a lot on your plates what with running your respective tax-sheltered and/or subsidized communications and entertainment fiefdoms and/or repressive media bureaucracy and/or conglomerate duopoly, but would it KILL you to hire a bunch of interns working at minimum wage to provide online transcripts of your televised political programs? This seems to be standard practice at EVERY MEDIA OUTLET in the U.S. after all. And seeing as the offering here in Canada is fairly paltry by comparison... how much effort would it take?
So come on CBC and CTV… make a small gesture of respect to your viewers who pay quite handsomely to receive your cable broadcasts and, for whatever reason (some nutty interest in democracy and politics, apparently), take interest in these unprofitable public service ventures that you’re compelled to air as part of your CRTC license agreement. Have a little heart for “the workers… the activists that are out there” or the “20 people” as Bob Fife so condescendingly referred to them, who are actually scrutinizing the stuff you post on the Intertubes, or, more specifically the stuff you DON’T happen to post for whatever reason.
Yours, etc.
The Less You Know: War Made Easy
Some have taken me to task for having made assumptions in being entirely unsurprised by the NYT story this past weekend that so-called “military experts” — delightfully referred to in Pentagon milspeak as “message force multipliers” — were in the pocket of weapons contractors while at the same time spinning the war for the Bush administration. Herewith is a repost from last month of the film adaptation of media critic Norman Soloman’s 2005 book “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” The final piece of the puzzle provided by the NYT was inevitable and the one that most naturally fit — not really much of an assumption after all.
The Harperites We Know…
I ran across this old chestnut from 2004. Ha! All that vague fear-mongering by the Liberals back then was quite unfounded as it turns out. Who knew the real Achilles Heel for this government would be what should by all rights have been its strongest suit: accountability and transparency?
To that end, here for your delight and edification, is a clip from Charles Adler’s radio program: “Tory MP tries to spin Adler... but he spins out” Now I’m no fan of Adler (remember the infamous “Coke bottle up the ass” picture?), but this cross-examination of Poilievre is quite delightful. At one point Adler remarks, “This is embarrassing…”
Indeedy.
h/t: Steve @ Far & Wide (And the laughs just keep coming. I hadn’t seen this post by Steve when I wrote my remarks about accountability. Ready-made satire... how sweet.)
“We’ve done some stuff that’s not really problematic, but it’s not something I’d necessarily want Elections Canada or reporters getting their hands on” — Anonymous CPC Official
Media Bias
Gosh, where’s that fearless crusader against nefarious media bias Sandy “Crock of the Matter” when you need her? Oh, right… I forgot. She’s too busy furiously pimping all of the “accomplishments” of the Harper régime. Never mind.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Indiana-North Carolina: The Tie-Breakers?
Well, the gun-owners and “blue-collar” small town voters of Pennsylvania have spoken. Hillary won both of these demographics by a healthy margin. Although not unexpected, this was a real disappointment for those of us who support Obama because despite her victory, Clinton still can’t win. Not of course that this fact will deter her in the least from trying. And the worst part is that things are only going to get uglier from here.
Oh, and Jamie… some of us can walk and chew gum at the same time!
Update: The best description of the race as it stands now has to go to BFB: “Never-ending root canal” Quite so.
Nero Fiddled, Bush “Dances”
Um, yeah. How cute.
Lest we forget. (Oh and here, here, here, here and elsewhere…)
Update: Heckuva job, George!
“The president has never promised me anything he couldn’t deliver and that’s always appreciated.” — Stephen Harper
Pennsylvania Smack-Down (With Poll & Updates!)
It’s been ages since we had a poll around here, so let’s give this a whirl:
Update: The results so far are rather interesting. Can we assume that 2-6% group has opted instead for “Doesn’t Matter”…? I’m kind of thinking so.
Why Harper Muzzles His Caucus…
Because this is the goofy, asinine sort of right-wing SHITE the “Conservatives” would have to deal with on a regular basis otherwise.
Brenda Martin: Guilty!
Like you expected anything else from Mexico’s crackerbox justice system?
Right on Cue Update: The flood-gates of “Conservative compassion” open up. (Surfing on the same brainwave...)
Won’t Someone Think of the Lawns!!!
Now that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is actually delivering on his promise to implement a province-wide ban on pesticides, as part of her relentless hate campaign that’s waged day in and day out with such relentless fervour, JoJo Magoo at “Blue Like You!” asks the burning question:
What about people with “weed allergies”?
Good grief, how pathetically desperate is that?
Update: I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me sooner. It seems that JoJo Magoo is conflating PESTICIDES with HERBICIDES. D’oh! (This, by the way, would account for the exemption granted to golf courses because part of their design includes water hazards that are, in effect, fairly stagnant pools of water that breed mosquitoes.)
Update2: Wherein we learn what’s meant by a “cosmetic pesticide”…
Via The Lung Association:
“Cosmetic pesticides are chemical or biological substances used to destroy living things such as: insects (insecticides), plants (herbicides), and fungi (fungicides) for the purpose of enhancing the appearance of a lawn or garden. They are sold commonly as sprays, liquids, powders or combined with chemical fertilizers.”
CPC Hacks… On the Run From the Press
It seems that even our friend “Trusty Tory” realizes how catastrophically boneheaded the CPC’s “communication strategy” has been on this issue.
Props to PSA for the idea.
“They say ‘we’re being judged differently,’ well yes, because they acted differently.” — Gilles Duceppes
Update: And still the kooky CONspiracy theories persist...
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