Speaking of the Honda Fit, those ads about cargo space aren’t kidding. I just got back from a car camping trip in which I carried food, beer and supplies for eighteen on the way out and leftovers, tents, mattresses, folding gazebos and folding chairs on the return. The gnomes at Honda make the back seats fold down in a way that creates an amazingly roomy space for about as much crap as the little engine can credibly pull without stalling out on steep hills. I’m not saying that the car rivals a minivan with removable seats, but compared to the impression that you get looking at the outside (kind of a feline Geo Metro) the car’s interior is almost TARDIS-like. I feel safe predicting that when gas costs a couple more bucks per gallon, everybody who still owns a car will want one of these.
RIP, Tony Snow
Tony Snow has died at the age of 53.
You know the drill, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.
Fifty-three is just way too damned young, especially for a man with a family. Terrible. And, I should note, despite what you thought of Snow, he was the only competent Press Secretary of this administration. Perino is a dim partisan bulb, McClellan was in way over his head, and Fleischer was equally horrid.
Sister Souljah Thrown Under the Bus In Order To Unite The Party
Continuing our discussion earlier of terms that should be banned after the election, if only because we will not be able to get rid of them right now, Dan Balz proclaims Obama had his Sister Souljah moment with Jesse Jackson:
Barack Obama leads a charmed life. He finally had his Sister Souljah moment and didn’t even have to show up. Jesse Jackson did it for him solo.
***Jackson’s multiple apologies attest to the harm the civil rights leader knows he did to himself. His crude comment, captured on an open microphone on Fox News, was so out of bounds that even Jackson’s son, a national co-chair of Obama’s campaign, leaped to condemn “the ugly rhetoric” and urged his father to keep his mouth shut. Jackson has certainly diminished himself and, given the fact that he attacked the first African American to lead a major party into a general election, likely hurt himself in particular within the black community.
Now granted, I didn’t know what he meant when he said it, but I can not be the only one who thinks what Jackson said wasn’t really that crude, or that out of bounds, or that it was “ugly rhetoric.” It strikes me as the kind of thing people say all the time to each other in private- “I would like to rip his nuts off.” “God, I would just beat him about the head and neck if I could.” “I will rip his arms off and beat him with the bloody stumps.” It was just colorful language, but it wasn’t necessarily that crude or “ugly” or even that out of bounds. Hell, it was what passed as every day conversation among guys when I was in the Army. Maybe it was a little salty for national exposure, but it wasn’t that outrageous to me, and besides, it wasn’t intended for national consumption anyway.
Then again, I may be a really bad judge of what is crude and out of bounds. For me, you at least need an “f bomb” to verge on over the top.
At any rate, the list of bannable terms from early is growing. The following should be banned post election 2008, if at all possible. Anyone who uses them should have their nuts cut out:
1.) flip-flop
2.) throw under the bus
3.) Sister Souljah moment
4.) slap in the face
5.) but how will it play in Scranton? (or whatever city that is supposed to signify middle America).
6.) Middle America
7.) “Elitist,” when what you actually mean is able to read at a fourth grade level or higher
8.) homeland
9.) “He’s comfortable in his own skin”
10. “Would like to have a beer with him.”
11.) practicing partisan politics or practicing politics as usual
12.) Maverick
13.) Ethnic cleansing
14.) “rock star” to refer to anyone not engaged in the actual playing of actual music.
15.) “give them the tools they need.”
16.) “played the x card” (where x = race, gender, whatever)
17.) white working class and “Reagan Democrats,” who now consist of Geraldine Ferraro and the 6 folks running the 400 sockpuppets at NoQuarter
18.) Adding the ‘-gate’ suffix to any scandal (or, as it is most of the time, non-scandals)
19.) “commander in chief” threshold
20.) stab in the back
21.) family values
22.) pain at the pump
23.) change agent
24.) “my friends”
I challenge anyone out there to find ten minutes of any of the various shows with the idiot talking heads without multiple infractions from the list above. You won’t be able to do it.
Sister Souljah Thrown Under the Bus In Order To Unite The PartyPost + Comments (93)
ILUVGOD
This sort of silliness just makes no sense to me:
Unless a federal court intervenes, South Carolina drivers may soon be able to profess their Christian faith with a state-issued license plate.
The state plans to issue plates featuring a Christian cross and the words “I Believe,” but a group advocating the separation of church and state says that goes too far.
A similar design had been considered by Florida’s lawmakers, but it was rejected there because of concerns over separation of church and state.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which includes Christian, Jewish and Hindu clergy, filed a federal lawsuit last month. The group contends that the plates violate the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against government favoring one religion over another religion or non-religion.
I really, really do not understand this sort of thing. I just don’t get it. Assuming there is a God, and that God is all of the things we hear and read from various Christian texts and other assorted authorities on the matter, am I really supposed to believe that what really concerns an omniscient and omnipotent being is vanity plates?
RIP, UGA
My mother is a Georgia grad, so everyone in my family knows and (is forced to) loves UGA. Sadly, Uga VI died this weekend.
RIP, Uga.
Capsule Review: WALL*E
In brief, anybody who isn’t an agoraphobic shut-in would be nuts not to see the new Pixar movie. Covering briefly why the film scored 97/100 at Rotten Tomatoes, the dialogue-free opening thirty minutes are some of the best film ever made. You can see on the trailer most of the key points without revealing anything that you would do better to find out in the theater: lonely robot falls for a sleek visitor who vastly outclasses him, she notices, she gets recalled to wherever, unable to bear the loss her he hangs on to her ship, adventure follows.
As a human(ish) drama I’m not ashamed to admit that I teared up a few times, and I haven’t done that since Contact (obviously your mileage may vary). The humor matches Pixar’s best work. It succeeds both as a science fiction film and as a Zucker brothers-like nod to great moments in scifi (example: casting Sigourney Weaver as the voice of HAL). There are two notable science goofs (sound and swirling dust in space) that make it into the trailer and a related outrage that doesn’t, but those are vastly outweighed by the writers’ ability to keep the main logic internally consistent, a bar so high that I’d almost forgotten that it exists. If you let robots develop a personality and override their programmed priorities, some will turn out good and some will be jerks. The end credits are a gift for humanities majors. It’s too smart for young kids, who will enjoy the spectacle while their parents scheme to drag them back for another go.
So yeah, I liked the movie. It’s more than worth whatever crazy price your cineplex is charging these days.
October, 1975
I’m watching Saturday Night from October, 1975, and I can’t believe how awful George Carlin is. Don’t get me wrong. I love George Carlin. He just sucks in this show, as does most of the cast. I guess George Carlin got much better with age and “Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksuckin’, Motherfucker, tits” was an anomaly in his younger years.
Janis Ian is awesome, however. I can honestly say I’ve never heard of her. But after tonight, I’ve bought a couple of her songs from iTunes – including “At Seventeen” Very nice. A beautiful song I like probably even more so because I can easily play it on my guitar.