I can’t believe I forgot to blog about this, but I did. At any rate, I saw The Matrix Reloaded this week-end, and I thought it was outstanding. I am not sure what the hell the crtics were carping about, or what they wanted, but I sure as hell loved it. Go see it.
Archives for May 2003
Bad Jokes
Every time I see a headline like this (Study Finds 1 in 5 Youths Have Sex Before Age 15), I am reminded of one of my favorite jokes:
Q: Did you know that 80% of high school students are sexually active?
A: Really?
Q: Yeah, the other 20% are in the band.
This Is Beautiful
Via Common Dreams I see this shocking headline that appeared in the UK Guardian:
You Let Al-Qaida Off Hook, Bush Told
Who told Bush this? The CIA? Nope.
Military Intelligence? Nope.
The Homeland Security Department? Nope.
The FBI? Nope.
Mossad? Nope.
Interpol? Nope.
The source for these drastic revelations are none other than, you guessed it- the Democrat candidates for President in 2004.
Congressman Richard Gephardt said: “We are vulnerable to future attacks because this administration has not done its job.”
Governor Howard Dean accused the White House of “strangling cities and towns” by refusing them money for protection.
Perhaps most significantly, the bombings offered a new impetus to the presidential campaign of Senator Bob Graham of Florida, the oldest, probably least-known and maybe the weirdest of the nine Democratic candidates challenging Mr Bush.
Mr Graham was reported to have stolen the show in Iowa with a powerful attack on the administration’s decision to invade Iraq as a distraction. “They have conducted an ideological war in Iraq … and at the same time they have stopped the war against terror,” he said. “We have let al-Qaida off the hook.”
This, my friends, is OBJECTIVE journalism. A point of note is that this piece of bile was written by first rate hack Matt Engel, of Olive Garden, and Mississippi fame. Why does this idiot have a job?
*** Update ***
As noted by the Instapundit and the Calpundit (in the comments), the most offensive thing about this piece is the headline, with which Engel may have had little or nothing to do. However, I also hate the absolutely uncritical tone of the piece, which simply accepts as gospel truth what the candidates have to say- you see, they sit in on intelligence briefings, so it must be true. If President Bush had stated “Democrats hat any kind of tax cut,” it would be perfectly fair (and the writer’s responsibility, IMHO), to point out that the Democrats have recently proposed a number of tax cuts. Why should a writer not point out all of the recent arrests and successes in the War on terror when someone is claiming that Bush has ‘stopped the war on terror?’
This Makes Sense
I am speechless (which I guess is the intent of the McCain Feingold CFR bill):
A federal court Monday temporarily restored limits on political donations and advertising that it had struck down as unconstitutional, making 2004 candidates operate under the law passed by Congress last year until the Supreme Court settles the matter.
In other words, “it’s unconstitutional, and we said so, but what the hell, let’s give it a whirl.” As Attorney James Bopp Jr. puts it:
“The court agrees these provisions strip us of our rights, but they’re going to allow them to be enforced anyway,” Bopp said. “That’s just astonishing.”
Ministry of Silly Walks?
I don’t even know how to begin to deal with this story:
WASHINGTON (AP) – Watch your step! The Pentagon is developing a radar-based device that can identify people by the way they walk, for use in a new antiterrorist surveillance system.
Operating on the theory that an individual’s walk is as unique as a signature, the Pentagon has financed a research project at the Georgia Institute of Technology that has been 80 to 95 percent successful in identifying people.
Paging John Cleese, paging John Cleese!
A Censorship Scorecard
For those of you keeping score at home, since this is a difficult issue, I thought I would help you with this little round-up.
This is censorship:
Dozens of people walked out on pioneer TV talk-show host Phil Donahue, as he delivered a commencement speech at N.C. State on Saturday.
This is acting on principle:
About one in every eight graduates walked out of Sunday
Democrats Write Laws, Other People Are Supposed to Follow Them
Here is the latest story that is becoming the newest spin cycle swirling through the left flank of the blogosphere:
Critics of Teresa Heinz Kerry’s unorthodox and outspoken views have the fabulously rich wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry reaching for her $550 million can of whup-ass. Originally reserved to counter GOP sniping at her hubby, Heinz Kerry is now open to spending some of her ketchup fortune on a counterattack. “The assumption,” says a friend, “was always that the attacks would be on him, not her.” But now: “The attacks on her have exponentially increased the likelihood of her tapping the fortune.” Heinz Kerry, previously married to ketchup heir Sen. John Heinz, who died in a plane crash, has been ridiculed by Republicans for recent statements promoting Botox treatments, prenuptial agreements, and feeding rabbits to kids. One critic compared her to egomaniac Donald Trump, calling Mrs. H.K. “the Teresa.” If Republicans don’t shut up, warns one of her friends, she’ll give Kerry a war chest that would dwarf anything President Bush could collect. “It would be George Bush’s worst nightmare,” says the friend.
Giggle. If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell you. This story is a typical planted gossip piece that you should start expecting to see a lot of, and it actually should be interpreted as this:
1.) Kerry thinks he has a shot at getting the nomination, and now he needs to find a way to spend his fortune without looking like a hypocrite. Why would he look like a hypocrite? We’ll get to that in a second.
2.) This is just to stoke the fires of the memeufacturers to make sure they remember to break out the election year mantra- “Republicans are mean and bullies, so we have to be mean and fight at their level.” This is what Democrats say to themselves so they can excuse themselves for doing things like, well, running the Bush/Byrd lynching commercials. Or letting Terry McAuliffe speak in public. Remember, this is key to the way they think: “Republicans are evil, our cause is just, the end justifies the means, and it matters not what we do, but we must regain control. Anything wrong or illegal that we do will be overcome by the goodness of our return to the throne.”
Personally, I have no problem with Kerry spending his wife’s inheritance of 500 million dollars- hell, it is their money, they can do what they want with it. Unfortunately, Kerry needs an excuse before tapping into his wife’s wealth, so we have to pretend she is ‘fired up’ over those mean Republicans making fun of her. Why do we need to make this up? Maybe Kerry can tell you why we need to start spinning on this one:
“Every month in Washington, D.C. the special interests spend $100 million to get us to do something or to stop us from doing something. It’s time we broke the power of the big special interests and made the political system work for the average working Americans who make this country great. We’ll never have a government that truly represents all of the people, if we don’t at long last succeed in reforming our campaign finance system. Since coming to Washington in 1984 this has been one of my most important goals. Elections must be more than auctions, and money must no longer drown out the role of citizens in our democracy.”
Is there a more powerful and unregulated special interest than a shameless self-promoter with a half a billion dollars?
And btw, Ms. Heinz Kerry- if you think people are being mean to you, you ought to hear what Howard Dean is saying about your husband.
*** Update ***
John Hawkins has some thoughts on the ‘Democrats just need to fight tough like Republicans’ meme.
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