Thursday, March 30, 2006

MW: Let's look at it this way. I mean, you're sitting back in a comfortable radio studio, far from the realities of this war.

HH: Actually, Michael, let me interrupt you.

MW: If anyone has a right...

HH: Michael, one second.

MW: If anyone has a right to complain, that's what...

HH: I'm sitting in the Empire State Building. Michael, I'm sitting in the Empire State Building, which has been in the past, and could be again, a target. Because in downtown Manhattan, it's not comfortable, although it's a lot safer than where you are, people always are three miles away from where the jihadis last spoke in America. So that's...civilians have a stake in this. Although you are on the front line, this was the front line four and a half years ago.

It’s wonderful that she’s free, but after watching someone who was a hostage for three months say on television she was well-treated because she wasn’t beaten or killed — while being dressed in the garb of a modest Muslim woman rather than the non-Muslim woman she actually is — I expect there will be some Stockholm Syndrome talk in the coming days.

MCGUIRK: She strikes me as the kind of woman who would wear one of those suicide vests. You know, walk into the — try and sneak into the Green Zone.

IMUS: Oh, no. No, no, no, no.

MCCORD: Just because she always appears in traditional Arab garb and wearing a burka.

MCGUIRK: Yeah, what’s with the head gear? Take it off. Let’s see.

…

MCCORD: Exactly. She cooked with them, lived with them.

IMUS: This is not helping.

MCGUIRK: She may be carrying Habib’s baby at this point.

Apparently Ms Carroll was treated like a princess by her noble and gentlemenly kidnappers, who snatched her up three months ago simply to protest the occupation of their country by the forces who liberated 25 million Iraqis from under the boot heel of Saddam Hussein. Such a selfless and, yes, painful, act by such a benign and caring and patriotic insurgency!

I mean, screw the millions of Iraqis who voted for democratic reform—impossible without the ouster of Saddam—these mujahadeen care about their honor, and the honor of their country!

Which begs the question: why did she come back? Seems like she had it made where she was. Figs. Fine silks. An all-around comfortable kidnapping, from all accounts.

—Unless, of course, she’s trying to cut in on some of that Cindy Sheehan “speaking Truth to Power” money. Big bucks in that, I hear.

Or maybe she was secretly blinking her fear and loathing in code during the video. After all, she was being interviewed by one of her captors, and it’s hard to tell with her face covered up like that…

posted by tbogg at 9:50 PM

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Teach your parents well

From the Laura Ashley Menstrual Collection 

Steve at No More Mr. Nice Blog has a post up about the conservative crone that goes by the name of Schlafly. I went to read the linked article but I couldn't get past the picture (seen above).

Christ in a tube-top, that is frigging hideous.

Now we know that Phyllis Schlafly has a gay son. Don't they talk to each other? Doesn't he throw up in his mouth just a little every time he goes into that room?
Actually he probably throws up a little in his mouth a little every time that he remembers that Phyllis Schlafly is his mother, so never mind that.

What is doubly appalling is that Phyllis is undoubtedly proud of the room which is why she let the NY Times take a picture of it. I guess we should take solace in the fact that she used up all of of that fabric so we won't be seeing Laura Bush or Torie Clarke wearing a jacket made out of it.

Lets not even talk about the area rug that is two shades off with a slightly different pattern...

posted by tbogg at 9:04 PM

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Pre-Friday Random Ten

I was lying on the grass on Sunday morning of last week
Indulging in my self-defeat
My mind was thugged all laced and bugged all twisted wrong and beat
A comfortable in three feet deep

Thankfully there is no Timothy on it. Who knew that would strike a chord with so many people. But I do have a feeling that I'm going to have a lot of embarassing songs this week. I've been too lucky, too long:

Such A Fool - 22-20's
Monday - Wilco
Mario's Cafe - St. Etienne
Note To Self: Don't Die - Ryan Adams
Steal My Sunshine - Len
Eazy Rider - Jimi Hendrix
20 Cases Suggestive of... - Apples In Stereo
No Need To Cry - Neko Case and Her Boyfriends
Keep'n It Real - Shaggy
You're No Rock and Roll Fun - Sleater-Kinney

You may now commence making fun of Len and Shaggy. Go on, you smug bastards, but just keep in mind that #11 was Try A Little Tenderness by Wilson Pickett.

So there.

posted by tbogg at 8:24 PM

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Thursday Night Basset Blogging

Still green... 

We've reached the point where we hardly notice it anymore. Beckham, on the other hand, is blissfully unaware of his "specialness". Now about the those missing testicles...

Labels: basset

posted by tbogg at 8:06 PM

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This just in: Kids on man's "goddam" lawn again...

Stop the presses... 

Personally we're glad to see that Michele Malkin is off the Danish cartoon beat. Quite frankly she was starting to appear unhinged (or maybe that was Jesse, we can never tell). Now it's "mesicans, mesicans, mesicans" which is her real passion when it comes to playing the hating game. And there is no slight to America that she can't inflate into proof that brown people, other than herself, are taking over the world.

ANOTHER AMERICAN FLAG DOWN

[...]

The Stars and Stripes have been replaced by the Mexican flag at Chasewood North, and residents of the condominium community off Central Boulevard are puzzled as to who made the switch.

"I woke up Sunday morning and looked up from my patio and then realized that the American flag wasn't on the flagpole," said Sue Miller a Chasewood North board member. "What captured my attention were the colors — at first I thought it was an Italian flag, but one of our residents said it was the Mexican flag.

"I went to the flagpole, to see if the American flag was maybe on the ground, but they took it, and they cut the rope to get the American flag down and the Mexican flag up as well."

A best estimate of when the switch took place is Saturday night... It may be several weeks before the Stars and Stripes once again fly over Chasewood North, according to Miller, who at one time was the resident manager of the complex.

"We tried to get the flag down but couldn't, so we need to hire a company with a boom truck to get up there and replace the rope and put up the American flag," she said. "I would guesstimate that this would cost $500 or more to do."

Just thought you should know, because, well, you probably aren't going to hear about it from Katie Couric or the NYTimes.

Yes. Because if there is one thing that the people of this great nation need it's important breaking news involving a Florida condo association. Personally I'm waiting to hear about the last meeting when they talked about getting the sprinkler system fixed. Saul and Ethel's hibiscus is just dying, I'm telling you....

posted by tbogg at 8:18 AM

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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

 

If you like Pina Coladas...and the tender flesh of a man

If you have half-a-brain....mmmmm...brains. 

I did not know this.

I was looking for something tonight for an email to someone (someone important and famous, hah!) and I stumbled across a weird musical factoid.

Back when I was a little nipper in '71 there was a fairly popular song about cannibalism (hey, it was the Nixon years, 'kay?) called Timothy:

Trapped in a mine that had caved in
And everyone knows the only ones left
Were Joe and me and Tim
When they broke through to pull us free
The only ones left to tell the tale
Were Joe and me

Timothy, Timothy, where on earth did you go?
Timothy, Timothy, God why don't I know?

Hungry as hell no food to eat
And Joe said that he would sell his soul
For just a piece of meat
Water enough to drink for two
And Joe said to me, "I'll have a swig
And then there's some for you."

Timothy, Timothy, Joe was looking at you
Timothy, Timothy, God what did we do?

I must have blacked out just around then
'Cause the very next thing that I could see
Was the light of the day again
My stomach was full as it could be
And nobody ever got around
To finding Timothy
Timothy...

Everybody sing....!

Anyway, what I discovered tonight was that Rupert Holmes, composer of Escape (The Pina Colada Song) also wrote Timothy.

Well, I thought it was interesting....

posted by tbogg at 11:56 PM

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Sad...and yet funny in an unintentional way

Still searching for a song to call their own, Jonah posts this:

ANOTHER REASON I LOVE OUR READERS [Jonah Goldberg]

From someone with nothing better to do (and I mean that in a good way):

Forget Shaft and Superfly, the Corner’s theme song this week is pure Immigrant Song: ( this is pure doggerel ludicrousness, I know. My only excuse is it’s 5pm on a Wednesday…)

AAAAAaaaAAAAAh, AAAAAaaaAAAAAh,
We come from the land of the NRO
from the midnight post where the KLO blows...

I'm sure that K-Lo was less than amused by that one. Then again, I don’t know but I been told, a big legged woman ain’t got no soul

posted by tbogg at 11:12 PM

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Un-American activities

Off to see it... 

Back in a few hours...unless we're arrested by the Kulture Kops.

Later that night.....

Well that was fun.

Armed with only two tickets, a Mr. Pibb and Red Vines (crazy delicious) the lovely and talented Casey and I went and saw V for Vendetta tonight in a theater located in former Congresman Randy "Doing Time" Cunningham's district. Perhaps chagrined by the antics of the former war hero and lover of fine antiquities, we were not confronted by patriots of many colors (white, pinkish white , pale white, eggshell, and mochachino) as we went in to see an assault on everything that is good about America, if by good you mean a populace made numb and dumb with fear.

Was it agitprop? Hell yeah.
Was it about the Bush administration? Hell yeah.
Is it something that people will look back years from now and say, "Well, it's not like we weren't warned"...?

I certainly hope so.

Oh. And people applauded at the end.

America haters, every last one of them...

posted by tbogg at 6:09 PM

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Fun with advertising dollars

Continuing with our series on Bad Advertising Buys and The Buyers Who Buy Them, we found this ad over at the Cock-Headed Man Whore's blog:

For bi-curious Catholics,
we presume... 

"Must love midnight mass, long walks on the beach, dressing up in fatigues, vespers, working out, bible study, and have experience as a bottom.
I accept all major credit cards. Military discounts available.
Contact me at popebulldogsexVI@hotmail.com. No freaks."

posted by tbogg at 1:07 PM

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Curtis Mayfield just puked in his coffin

Yeah baby, I went to Goucher...

Don't they have their own culture to crap all over?

SHAFT CONS ADDENDUM [Jonah Goldberg]

Checking my other email addres, I found this late email in response to the Shaft theme song thing from last week. A reader writes:

Jonah,

While the theme from Shaft may have its cute aspects, its a terrible song, from a terrible movie and WAY overplayed.

I'd suggest the theme from Superfly, and "Superfly Conservatives" has a nice ring to it as well. Andwhile Superfly was a drug pusher, he had the same free agent/kick-butt spirit of John Shaft. Terrible movie as well, but one with the greatest pop soundtrack of all time.

I'm sure you know all this since, like me, you probably went through an awkward "o.g./pimp/hustler" phase in college. (ha.)

Anyway, here's my revised lyrics for the theme of Superfly Conservatives everywhere:

Darkest of night
With the moon shining bright
There's a war goin' strong
Lotta things goin' wrong
The man of the hour
Has an air of great power
The dudes have envied him for so long

(Chorus)
Oooh, Superfly
Hearts and minds can just pass on by
He don't care, don't ask no questions why
The only game he knows is Do or Die
Ah-ha-ha

Hard to understand
What a hell of a man
This cat knows the slum
Has a mind, isn't dumb
When weakness is shown
He'll leave people on their own
He takes care of his own
You best leave him alone

Chorus

The game he plays he plays for keeps
Kickin' ass in foreign streets
Don't try to win them over
(That's not what he tryin' to do, y'all)
Taking all that he can take
Gambling with the odds of fate
Don't try to win them over (4x)
Woo, Superfly

The aim of his role
Is not saving souls
Ask him his dream
What does it mean?
He wouldn't know
"To Hell with the rest"
Is the most he'll confess
But time's running out
And there's no happiness

Chorus
Superfly (4x)

"Don't try to win them over..." (9x)

Shaft Cons? Superfly Cons?

I guess it sounds better than The Doughy Pantload Panthers...

(Please go to comments and give M.A. polite golf applause)

posted by tbogg at 12:33 PM

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...and giving the finger means "I am unhappy that you cut me off, fellow motorist"

Scalia gives us a lecture on Italian hand gestures:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a scathing letter to the Boston Herald, accused the newspaper’s staff of watching “too many episodes of the Sopranos” for interpreting a hand gesture he made at a cathedral as obscene.

The Boston Herald reported Monday the justice made “an obscene gesture, flicking his hand under his chin” in response to a question about whether lawyers might question his impartiality in matters of church and state. The incident occurred after he attended Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

But Scalia wrote in a letter to the editor that the gesture was not obscene at all, but dismissive. Scalia said he explained the gesture’s meaning to the reporter, to no avail.

Scalia quoted from “The Italians” by Luigi Barzini: “The extended fingers of one hand moving slowly back and forth under the raised chin means ‘I couldn’t care less. It’s no business of mine. Count me out.”’

Scalia wrote that the reporter concluded it was offensive because he initially explained his gesture by saying, “That’s Sicilian.” He blamed the mistake on excessive exposure to the HBO crime family drama.

“From watching too many episodes of the ‘Sopranos,’ your staff seems to have acquired the belief that any Sicilian gesture is obscene — especially when made by an ‘Italian jurist.’ (I am, by the way, an American jurist.)” Scalia wrote.

Who just happens to use Italian gestures.

But, sorry. I'm as Italian as Nino (but without the cool Italian first name) and the gesture is one of contempt and is generally taken to mean: vaffanculo!.

It's not surprising that the reporter saw it that way since that is Scalia's attitude towards anyone who disagrees with him.

posted by tbogg at 11:15 AM

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Brown Dawn

The Pitiless Warriors of Aztlan 

Michelle Malkin and her faithful group of readers (that would be the Minutemen who can read) are having a freakout over students...protesting! Since I live here in the belly of the beast (San Diego) where approximately 3500 students marched out of school to attend a rally at Chicano Park, I thought you would like to see the level of concern expressed by the local San Diego Union-Tribune in today's paper.

Meanwhile, Captain Cubicle from the Land of Minnesota, chimes in to explain the motivation of the Brown Horde from the South:

The rallies in Southern California only ripped the lid off of a well-known dynamic in the culture that mixes native guilt with radical illegal-immigrant activism to fuel the La Raza dream of Aztlan, the reconquest of the the Southwest and its return to Mexico or existence as a separate nation. This radical notion has been around since 1969 and plays a part in the fringe politics of the Southwest. However, the increasing sense of entitlement for illegals in the area has led this impulse out of the shadows and into the forefront of the amnesty movement by enabling people to argue that the illegals are returning to their own land and that the US lacks the sovereignty to declare otherwise.

It's a well-known dynamic? I did not know that. I've lived here my entire life, was in high school and college during the height of the La Raza movement, and the notion of a "dream of Aztlan, the reconquest of the the Southwest and its return to Mexico" being applied to a people just looking for jobs and a better life for their families is a xenophobic fever dream.

Or as 15 year-old Nicholas Quintero said:

“We're here because they're treating us badly. The Mexicans just want a better life and they're just doing what white people did a long time ago.”

posted by tbogg at 10:06 AM

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Tuesday, March 28, 2006

 

"If I've gotta be a corpse, I want to be presentable."

Not the guys from Power Line

It's raining here tonight and by "raining" I mean it's coming down like a sonofabitch.

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

Anyway, I got nothin' tonight blogwise, but I do have a brand new Criterion edition of The Wages of Fear, so the dogs and I are going to stretch out on the bed and watch it without the english subtitles. I don't speak french, but Satchmo does so he's going to interpret.
I swear, half the time I think he just makes most of the dialogue up, which would explain all of the knock-knock jokes in Au revoir les enfants

Notes of TWOF:

When Wages of Fear was initially released in the '50s, certain "anti-American" scenes were cut from U.S. versions of the print. The movie portrays an American oil company (modeled after Standard Oil) as being ruthless, amoral, and money-grubbing. The corporation hires four down-on-their-luck individuals to transport the nitroglycerine because, if the men don't make it, no one will miss them and there will be no messy union problems. It's important to note that Clouzot does not openly criticize Americans or the American lifestyle (something that would have been risky less than a decade after the end of World War II), but American big business practices. Watching a restored version of the film nearly 50 years later, this aspect seems neither offensive nor hard-hitting; in fact, if anything, it adds to Wages of Fear's believability. And, by today's standards, Clouzot's approach is barely tough enough to be considered cynical.

Unless, of course, you're a thin-skinned unemployable twit who would consider that aspect of the film trivial.

By the way I just noticed that Criterion has released le samouraï. Very cool. Although as much as I love Criterion, I'm still trying to figure out why they felt compelled to issue Chasing Amy.

Tomorrow night the lovely and talented Casey & I are going to go see V for Vendetta...because we probably hate America. And love popcorn.

(Added): I thought this was really interesting. In the booklet accompanying The Wages of Fear is an introduction to the film by novelist Dennis Lehane who writes:

Critics at the time charged that The Wages Of Fear was virulently anti-American (Time magazine, in 1955, called it "a picture that is surely one of the most evil made") but this is missing the ravaged forest for the blighted trees. As director Karel Reiscz pointed out in a 1991 Film Comment article, the film is "anti-American," but only insofar as it is "unselectively and impartially anti-everything."

Compare that with Apuzzo's take on Vendetta:

Emerging from the cinema after watching V For Vendetta, it occured to me that had Goebbels lived a bit longer he probably would’ve offered the job to the Wachowskis - whom, I suspect, would’ve given him something much closer to what he wanted than Herr Lang.

This is another way of saying that V For Vendetta is essentially the Jud Süß of our time. Of course, some of you may never have heard of Jud Süß or the people who made it - and will therefore need to do a little research. Others of you will know what I’m talking about … but won’t care, or will think I’m being ‘over the top.’ Fine.

But I can say with complete assurance that there’s going to come a day in the future - and it’s a pity we’ll need to wait for that day - when the people associated with the production of V For Vendetta will be as reviled and despised as the people associated with that most notorious film.

It's 1955 all over again!

posted by tbogg at 9:52 PM

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If only there were such a man...

Shorter Jeff Goldstein

It is a damn shame that there is neither a leader nor a country that is taken seriously enough enough to lead the War on Terror.... so we're all gonna die.

posted by tbogg at 8:33 AM

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Monday, March 27, 2006

 

Lost in translation...

-pita bread
-eggs
-lettuce
-sarin nerve gas
-Mr.Pibb
-high-strength aluminum tubes
-dryer sheets
-Febreze
-pick up dry-cleaning 

Not too much posting tonight because I've been doing my part deciphering some of the released documents from the Saddam regime.

But now, an unusual experiment in public access is giving anyone with a computer a chance to play intelligence analyst and second-guess the government.

Under pressure from Congressional Republicans, the director of national intelligence has begun a yearlong process of posting on the Web 48,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops.

Less than two weeks into the project, and with only 600 out of possibly a million documents and video and audio files posted, some conservative bloggers are already asserting that the material undermines the official view.

On his blog last week, Ray Robison, a former Army officer from Alabama, quoted a document reporting a supposed scheme to put anthrax into American leaflets dropped in Iraq and declared: "Saddam's W.M.D. and terrorist connections all proven in one document!!!"

Not so, American intelligence officials say. "Our view is there's nothing in here that changes what we know today," said a senior intelligence official, who would discuss the program only on condition of anonymity because the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, directed his staff to avoid public debates over the documents. "There is no smoking gun on W.M.D., Al Qaeda, those kinds of issues."

Now that may very well be, but the document that I've been working on would seem to indicate that Saddam Hussein was working hand in hand with Al Qaeda in an effort to recruit women as suicide bombers (or as the President calls them: suiciderettes). I'm not entirely done with my own personal document, but here's the kind of scoop that Pajamaline Media wishes they could come up with. Read it and weep, Roger and Charles:

Hey lady, you lady, cursing at your life
You're a discontented mother and a regimented wife
I've no doubt you dream about the things you'll never do
But, I wish someone had talked to me
Like I wanna talk to you.....

Oh, I've been to Georgia and California and anywhere I could run
I took the hand of a preacher Imam man and we made love in the sun
But I ran out of places and friendly faces because I had to be free
I've been to paradise but I've never been to me

Please lady, please lady, don't just walk away
'Cause I have this need to tell you why I'm all alone today
I can see so much of me still living in your eyes
Won't you share a part of a weary heart that has lived million lies....

Oh, I've been to Nice and the Isle of Greece while I've sipped champagne on a yacht
I've moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo and showed 'em what I've got
I've been undressed by kings and I've seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see
I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me---

If that isn't a call to martyrdom, I don't know what is...

posted by tbogg at 11:26 PM

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American Idiot

Looks like every JV football
coach in the Midwest 

via No More Mr. Nice Blog I was checking out the totally rawkin' Battle Cry site where Christian teens are inveigled to create their own parallel faux-hipster universe chock full of nü-metal/rap-metal/Christian metal bands (warning...sound) that you can go see and pump and your fist to...but, hey! hey! hey! no devil horns there Scooter, or you'll spend the rest of the weekend testifying your ass off.

It's all the brainchild of Ron Luce one of those youth ministers who manage to make a living off of getting teenagers to give their lives over to Jesus...and giving $199 over to Ron (day of the show) to see Pillar. You know...Pillar. Pillar? Those guys up there in the link? That Pillar.

And to prove taht Ron is in touch with the kids (keepin' it real, yo), he even knows where to go for inspiration for graphics that will make his sheep bleat for joy.

 

Hmmmm. Where have I seen something like that before...

St. Jimmy lives... 

No big deal. Stendhal is going to sue both of their asses...

posted by tbogg at 10:11 PM

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I guess you had to be there....

Lyn Nofziger has passed away and The Corner's Peter Robinson, a Reagan apple-polisher if there ever was one (oh, sit down Peggy) rustles through his notes to find just the perfect Nofzinger moment with which to memorialize the man.

I riffled around in my notes to find a Nofziger story to share with the readers of this Corner. This one contains all the right elements: A touch of salty language, a standoff with Nancy Reagan, and a situation saved by Ronald Reagan.

The scene was in a hotel in North Carolina in 1976. Running for the Republican presidential nomination against the incumbent president, Gerald Ford, Reagan had suffered a string of primary defeats, and by the time of the North Carolina primary even some of Reagan’s well-wishers had begun to wonder whether challenging Ford had been a mistake. Nancy Reagan called Nofziger, the campaign press secretary, to the candidate’s suite. He found her there alone. “She said, ‘Lyn, we’ve got to get Ronnie out of the race,’” Nofziger told me. “’We can’t have him embarrassed.’” Nofziger disagreed with Mrs. Reagan—he felt certain Reagan could turn the campaign around—but even he thought twice about telling her so to her face.

“I’m standing there saying to myself, ‘Now, how the hell am I going to say anything to her about this?” Nofziger said. Then the candidate himself walked in. “Ronald Reagan saw instinctively what was going on. He turned to me, and he said, ‘Lynwood [Reagan’s nickname for Nofziger], I am not going to get out of this race. We’re going to stay in all the way.’ Nancy wasn’t pleased,” Lyn said, chuckling, “but she knew that was it.”

Maybe I've become too cynical, but, hunh-wha-?

Even when the story is about Lyn Nofziger it ends up being about Ronald Reagan. Don't any of these people have fathers of their own?

posted by tbogg at 9:28 PM

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Motel ministers - or former drug dealers - as I like to call them

Hot WoC on DG action.

Feminists—or lesbians—as I like I like to call them, would love nothing more than to take your son and eradicate his masculine uniqueness

Just because a woman shoots down a guy with plucked eyebrows, a butt-crack on his chin and the souless dead eyes of a grouper it doesn't make her a lesbian.

And even if she tells you that she is one, it's only because she's just not that into you.

Butt-chin.

posted by tbogg at 12:48 AM

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Sunday, March 26, 2006

 

The ghost of Pete Wilson haunts these streets

Michelle Malkin's nightmare 

Max Blumenthal:

I have just returned from the largest, most energized demonstration I have ever witnessed in my life. Over 500,000 people filled the streets of downtown Los Angeles to march against HR 4437, a bill authored by Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner (heir to the Kotex fortune) which would turn 11 million undocumented immigrants into felons, punish anyone guilty of providing them assistance, and construct an iron wall between the US and Mexico.

The rally reached a crescendo as thousands of demonstrators lined the walls and bridges above the 101 freeway waving flags and cheering while an endless parade of cars and trucks blasted their horns in support. It was the sound of a sleeping giant awakening.

In passing HR 4437 and whatever draconian and utterly counter-productive bill emerges from the Senate, the congressional Republicans have become their party's worst enemy. They have cast their white, Southern base in conflict with the Latino constituency the RNC and the Bush White House realize they must win over if they are ever to achieve a so-called "Republican majority."

Those of us who live in California remember the damage that former Governor Pete Wilson (thanks Pete!) did to the Republican Party by supporting Proposition 187; just ask the two or three Republicans who hold state-wide office (and, no, Arnold doesn't count). Prop. 187 passed and it's possible that another bill that was, for all intents and purposes, anti-Hispanic (which is exactly how it would be interpreted) might even pass again but the Republicans who got behind it would only end up paying... again. Such is the weird dynamic of California voting. So I have to laugh when Mark Krikorian says something like this:

The huge protests over the past few days by illegal aliens and others demanding amnesty are indeed likely to doom an amnesty bill, as Kathryn's post about Instapundit suggested; see also Mickey Kaus on "Gran Marcha--Gran Backlash!"

The reason is that, even with the staged display of some American flags, the first question an ordinary American watching this on the news is going to ask himself is, "So, if we toughen up enforcement, will they start burning cars?" Of course, the shape of immigrant protest in Europe is a sign of how much more intracable their immigration problem is than ours, and for that we should be grateful. But the phenomenon is the same -- unwanted guests in each place are demanding they get their way. Amnesty would thus represent our parallel to Europe's dhimmification.

Because, you see, they're brown people and they only respond to adversity by burning cars. Jesus.

The assertion that they are "unwanted guests" is, how should I put it, oh yeah, crap. People may not like the idea of illegal immigrants, but only as long as the illegal immigrants they're talking about are the ones who aren't cooking their food and cleaning their houses and cutting their lawns and answering their phones and working in their warehouses and pouring their cement and loading their trucks and, well, you get the idea.

If this weekend's organizers could get 500,000 people to turn out on Saturday for their march, imagine a one-day work stoppage. If all of my Hispanic employees and the Hispanics who make deliveries to us or provide other services didn't come into work for a day, I'd be screwed. Now imagine if they all stayed home and didn't buy anything for a day. They could bring California to its knees and you'd have business owners and factory owners and large contractors and the entire service industry screaming bloody murder. I still have fond memories of the stories of then Senator Pete Wilson getting a pissed-off phone call from a certain well-connected San Diego hotelier when one of her hotels was raided by la migra.

Republicans: meet your new boss.

You better play nice.

(Image courtesy of Max Blumenthal)

posted by tbogg at 11:28 PM

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Great moments in reeducation reeducation

Michael Ledeen:
THE IMMIGRANTS AT PLYMOUTH ROCK [Michael Ledeen]

Here's the latest from the AP's tendentious Nidra Pickler: "Founded by immigrants and praised as a haven for the oppressed, the United States now is struggling to decide the fate of as many as 12 million people living in the country illegally..."

Send her to reeducation camp, please. America was founded by explorers and conquerors, not "immigrants." If those guys had been immigrants they'd have had to learn indian...

They would have had to learn injun, not "indian". And if those guys had been "indians" they'd have been working at call centers instead of hanging around Plymouth Rock all day.

I hate it when Ledeen gets all PC.

posted by tbogg at 11:00 PM

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Career opportunities are the ones that never knock*

"I don't care if you were a Bush appointee. No cuts..."

In this economy I am not entirely without sympathy for Bendontworkherenomore and I will admit that I was a bit hard on him last week.

So, as an act of contrition (being the good ex-Catholic that I am), I set about looking for a new job for Ben. Let's face it, without a completed college education the better think tanks just aren't going to come a callin'. Even a degree from Goucher will trump an incomplete from William & Mary (...and by the way, did you know Ben even stole from the Pantload? Isn't that like taking dating tips from Brent Baker?) and pretty much every thing Ben writes from this point forward is going to go under the microscope which is going to make a writing gig difficult to obtain. Even David Horowitz has standards.

Hahahahahaha...oh shit, I crack myself up sometimes. Oh, sweet Jesus....

Sorry.

Anyway, I asked myself what kind of company actually lives the values that Ben professes to believe?

Many people today are desperately searching for deeper meaning in this Christmas. Now, more than ever, they recognize they need it, not just for themselves or those they love. They need it for the sake of the thousands of chairs that will sit empty on Christmas Day.

For me, Christmas has always been about the bonds of family. As tied up in the memories of Christ's birth as it has been, Christmas has always marked a chance to let any petty arguments and clashes fade away in unity. Prayer, reciting Luke 2, lighting the advent candles -- I realized as I was driving towards home that I welcomed the chance to play football with my younger brother nearly as much as those traditional reminders of the babe in the manger. Thus far, the reunion has not disappointed. My brother had set up his Nintendo with a "Christmas" match ready for us both, with Mary, Joseph, The Babe, The Shepherds, and the Beasts of the Field as our teammates.

Perhaps it is not just the non-Christian that is searching for meaning. Perhaps it is those of us Christians as well, who have let something, anything, even a thing as precious as family prevent us from acknowledging the truth.

The meaning of Christmas this year is about two things. It is dedicated to the memory of those who are not with us -- and the fulfilled promise of reconciliation from the One who never leaves us, nor forsakes us. It is a solemn day. It is a day of rejoicing. It is holy.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor and martyr under the tyranny of the Third Reich, wrote against and lived against the "cheap grace that devalues sin and forgiveness alike."

"Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the Love of God taught as the 'Christian conception' of God ... Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without repentance ... grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ."

By now you're probably suffering from irony overload so we'll pause here to let it pass.

hmmmmm....hmmmm.....Beat on the brat with a baseball bat....Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh...What can you do? What can you do? With a brat like that--

Okay. All better now? Onward and upward, I always say. Actually I don't always say that. I always say, "Jesus. Don't you have a mirror in your house?", but for the purposes of this post we'll pretend that I say uplifting things like, 'onward and upward'.

Onward and upward. So I'm looking for a job for Ben when I come across these guys whose "statement of corporate purpose" specifically says:

...we exist "to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with (Ben's new employer)."

Tomorrow is Monday morning, Ben. Be on time. Wear a tie and, for God's sake, don't lie on your application.

*Career Opportunities

posted by tbogg at 9:34 PM

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Dr. Drudge, I presume....

Let's go water-skiing! 

Matt Drudge who could make a mountain out of a semen stain adds to the serious topic of global warming:

MAG IN NEW 'GLOBAL WARMING' SCARE linking to this weeks cover story in Time magazine.

Followed by Record low temperatures at Palm Beach.

So it's just a big misunderstanding and we can get back to worrying about Britney Spears doing Lewis Libby bear porn.

(Great. Now I just picked 300 hits a day from people googling 'bear+porn')

posted by tbogg at 8:29 PM

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Closing time

Last chance to slip a vote in under the wire for the Koufaxes. Remember I am nominated in the Best Randian/Scientology blog for the post My Thetan Rules, Your Thetan Drools.

posted by tbogg at 6:06 PM

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Friday, March 24, 2006

 

The Looking-Glass War

I'll have what he is smoking... 

TigerHawk:

Anybody who thinks that an American withdrawal from Iraq will weaken al Qaeda because there will no longer be the "incitement" of the "crusader occupation" is a fool. Victory begets victory, and defeat begets defeat. Whether or not the Iraq invasion has worked out precisely as its supporters had hoped -- it obviously has not -- it is surely in the interests of all Americans, and indeed all Westerners, that it be perceived as a defeat for al Qaeda. Any American who argues otherwise does so from a narrower agenda, such as the political advancement of Democrats. Any other Westerner who argues otherwise does so from misplaced anti-Americanism. There is no other plausible explanation

To recap: victory begets victory which is not exclusively limited to victory and may also include defeat if you can make it look like victory. And if you point out that the defeat is, in actuality, defeat, and not victory, which it isn't - you hate America.

Personally I preferred pre-9/11 plausibility when reality was still in vogue.

posted by tbogg at 11:27 PM

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Defending the indefensible. But not America.

Everyone loves a car wreck..

redstate.com hits the jackpot.

Meanwhile fellow redstater Erick-Woods Erickson finally finds something worth fighting for:

But I’ve also discovered something else hard and painful — something I knew but had never experienced before to the extent I am now. That’s seeing a good friend go through a very rough patch. Even harder is seeing people who would rather tread carefully lest allegations be true, than aggressively and zealously defend a friend. I’d rather be right, but I’d rather fully defend than tiptoe.

In fact, in my friend Ben’s current situation, he is right. Were all the allegations of plagiarism true, they’d amount to nothing more than an 18 year old fresh in college being a bit too exuberant.

But that’s the thing. There are rational explanations to each charge made against Ben. He has done nothing wrong. There are those that will stop at nothing to sabotage what should be a really brilliant career for him. They don’t have truth on their side and it sucks to both see that they might be making inroads and it sucks to see that there are those who should be fighting back and defending a friend who sit idly by.

Next to God and family, friendship is of vital importance. Ben is such a great guy. He’s my friend, come hell or high water.

We noticed that when Erick mentioned "God and family, friendship" he skipped over "country". That probably would have been awkward.

He's a little thin-skinned too:

Face the facts gentlemen By: synykyl
It was Ben's own behavior that brought him down, not the supposed incivility of his critics.

(User Info) (#5)

You are not welcome here. By: Erick
Bye.

Redstate.com: They Do Chicken Right

posted by tbogg at 10:27 PM

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The bruised honor of Ben Domenech.

A coward.
A liar.
A thief.

Jesus Christ.

I was joking this morning about everyone getting back to the task at hand of picking on Jeff Goldstein...and then Goldstein had to go and give everyone more ammunition.

Ben, for what ever mistakes he may have made, at least appended his own name to whatever he posted or wrote publicly. Which is more than can be said for the vast number of leftwing bloggers who feel quite at ease attacking people with “impugn"ity from behind their stage names.

Plagiarizing is not a "mistake". It is stealing someone elses work and passing it off as your own in an effort to move your career forward. That is a hard cold fact. And as a putative "writer", Goldstein knows that.

As for Bendontworkherenomore, this post is pathetic:

Virtually every other alleged instance of plagiarism that I’ve seen comes from a single semester’s worth of pieces that were printed under my name at my college paper, The Flat Hat, when I was 17

In one instance, I have been accused me of passing off P.J. O'Rourke's writing as my own in a column for the paper. But the truth is that I had met P.J. at a Republican event and asked his permission to do a college-specific version of his classic piece on partying. He granted permission, the piece was cleared with my editors at the paper, and it ran as inspired by O’Rourke’s original.

My critics have also accused me of plagiarism in multiple movie reviews for the college paper. I once caught an editor at the paper inserting a line from The New Yorker (which I read) into my copy and protested. When that editor was promoted, I resigned. Before that, insertions had been routinely made in my copy, which I did not question. I did not even at that time read the publications from which I am now alleged to have lifted material. When these insertions were made, I assumed, like most disgruntled writers would, that they were unnecessary but legitimate editorial additions

But all these specifics are beside the point. Considering that all of this happened almost eight years ago, and that there are no files or notes that I've kept from that brief stint, it is simply my word against the liberal blogosphere on these examples. It becomes a matter of who you believe.

The fact is that Ben Domenech is second-rate. He used other people's words to make himself look good. He is a coward who let his friends at redstate defend him all this week when he knew he was guilty. Mike Krempasky and Josh Trevino made complete and utter fools of themselves all week long defending their buddy who lacked the balls to call them off.

He has brought shame upon his family, particularly his mother who home-schooled him but apparently forgot to tell him that cut and paste is not an option for writing essays.

He blames his "editors" who also apparently felt his work was so second-rate that (he claims) they had to punch it up with stolen passages from Salon.

Now he wants to be the holy martyr of the conservative movement who was burned at the stake by the pitchforked moonbat mob and so he plays the patriotism card and wraps himself in the flag:

To my friends: thank you for your support. To my enemies: I take enormous solace in the fact that you spent this week bashing me, instead of America.

What a sanctimonius condescending little twerp. You want to honor America and maybe get back a shred of lost honor? Then enlist, you cowardly second-rate fuck.

posted by tbogg at 1:34 PM

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Things you don't expect to hear at the vet

Not the result of a St. Patrick's Day surgery ritual 

"Did you tell him that Beckham turned green?"

The odd little life of this odd little dog just got a little...odder.

Testicles removed? Check.

Sutures on his hip where I had a cyst removed? Check. (you can see the shaved spot in the picture)

Green neck? Sorry. Come again?

As near as anyone can tell, a deadly combination of a green Mexican blanket, the doggy e-collar, and that toxic stew known as basset drool conspired to turn all of the white fur on his neck a lovely shade of Pantone 5773. And it won't wash out.

Other than that he came home and did the ritual penis sniff with Satchmo, tried to hump Satchmo not realizing that we just took the bullets out of his gun, and now he's taking a nap.

On my bed.

In other words; life is back to normal.

Except for that weird green thing.

Labels: basset

posted by tbogg at 1:01 PM

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Go fetch

I'm out of here for about an hour to go pick up Beckham who is coming home with less luggage than he left the house with. I guess we're all waiting for a sign from WaPo Worldwide Headquarters (a plume of black smoke?) indicating that they have called young Bendleby the scrivener into the head coaches office and asked him to bring both his play book and the WaPo style book with him. I'm sure his agent has been in talks with the Heritage Foundation all morning making the point that by adding Ben to their roster they can double their number of ethnic employees.

Hopefully this whole sad episode will conclude before the weekend is upon us so that we can get back to the important stuff like picking of Jeff Goldstein.

And now it is off to pick up Muttley the Nutless....

posted by tbogg at 9:57 AM

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Making common cause with the "unhinged" "moonbat hordes"

Michelle Malkin says what Howard Kurtz won't:

I just got home from Pittsburgh and am late heading out the door for the Abdul Rahman event in D.C., but I can't let this blog sit silent about the plagiarism debacle now engulfing young conservative Ben Domenech, the Washington Post's "Red America" blogger.

I cheered for Ben, the editor of my last book at Regnery, when he announced his new position. I criticized unhinged bloggers on the Left who leveled vicious ad hominem attacks against him. It's clear, as the good folks at Red State (which Ben co-founded) note, that his detractors were on a search-and-destroy mission from the get-go.

But now the determined moonbat hordes have exposed multiple instances of what clearly appear to me to be blatant lifting of entire, unique passages by Ben from other writers. It is one thing to paraphrase basic facts from a wire story. But to filch the original thoughts and distinctly crafted phrases of a writer without crediting him/her--and doing so repeatedly--is unacceptable in our business. Some of the cases occurred while Ben was in college; he is blaming an editor for these transgressions. But at least one other incident involved a piece he wrote for NRO after he graduated. The side-by-side comparisons of these extensive passages is damning.

I certainly understand the impulse on the Right to rally around Domenech. But I can't ignore the plain evidence. And the charges can't be dismissed as "lies" or jealousy attributed to Ben's age.

As someone who has worked in daily journalism for 14 years, I have a lot of experience related to this horrible situation: I've had my work plagiarized by shameless word and idea thiefs many times over the years. I've also been baselessly accused of plagiarism by some of the same leftists now attacking Ben.

The bottom line is: I know it when I see it. And, painfully, Domenech's detractors, are right. He should own up to it and step down. Then, the Left should cease its sick gloating and leave him and his family alone.

Looks like Michelle just found out that Ben is Puerto Rican....

posted by tbogg at 8:41 AM

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Thursday, March 23, 2006

 

In Praise of Current Teen Films

Timeless perfection 

Liz Kelly:

Yesterday's post about "Red Dawn" got me thinking about the '80s and, specifically, the seemingly rich (at least in hindsight) array of teen movies produced during the decade: "The Outsiders," "War Games," "Goonies," "Better Off Dead," "Lost Boys," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Heathers"... all pillars of my "we had better movies when I was a teen" argument (which I often deploy to my 14-year-old niece every time I'm dragged to a Lindsay Lohan or Amanda Bynes release).

Was the message from Hollywood better, too, or is that the rose-colored glasses again?

In the '80s, I think we paid more attention to the on-screen characters being portrayed by the brat pack than to the gossip surrounding them. (Or maybe my parents just didn't keep my "Teen Beat" subscription up-to-date.) Those characters, especially in John Hughes' flicks, were the underdogs, the individuals who functioned outside the cheerleader/jock dynamic. Molly Ringwald in "16 Candles" and "Pretty in Pink," Corey Haim in "Lucas," Mary Stuart Masterson as the drumming love interest of Eric Stoltz in my favorite, "Some Kind of Wonderful."

The focus now seems to be on the off-screen antics of stars like Lohan and the ever-tabloid-present Olsen twins. All in a day's work for watchers of celeb culture, but enough to make an aunt of a 14-year-old cringe.

In any case, I'm thinking of creating a Netflix account pre-loaded with some classic '80s fare for my unsuspecting niece. The movies I named above are givens, but more suggestions would be most welcome..

It is funny that I came across this tonight (or this morning as the case may be) as the adorable and cuddly mrs tbogg and I were discussing what we refer to as The Holy Trinity of Teen Films from the 80's (Pretty In Pink/ The Breakfast Club/ Sixteen Candles) just last week, all of which stand the test of time in that teens today are still watching them (as the fruit of our respective loins can attest). But my point at the time was that, when it comes to quality films for teens, the current crop is of a much better vintage. Cases in point (my list going back to 1998):

Thirteen
Ghost World
The Virgin Suicides
Donnie Darko
Mean Girls
Napoleon Dynamite
Love and Basketball
Election
Pleasantville
Crazy/Beautiful
10 Things I Hate About You
October Sky

To use an expression that I hate, 'reasonable people can agree or disagree' about what qualifies as a "teen film" (for example some might include Rushmore, but I haven't found a teenager who likes it. I'm guessing it's more of a college /slacker crowd thing). I can only go by my personal teen's choices (adding that, without asking her, her favorite viewing seem to be Memento and endless episodes of Buffy). I do believe that the first three (Thirteen, The Virgin Suicides, and Ghost World) will be rediscovered by teens twenty years from now and that those kids will encounter the same relatable moments and minor epiphanies that todays teens experience when watching them.

You may haggle the merits of the list as well as any omissions that "Omigawd, how could you not mention..." in the comments. Just click the timestamp and have at it...

posted by tbogg at 11:46 PM

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Too early for VH1's "Whatever Happend to...?"

Paul Mirengoff (the third string Powertool):

Bowers also misses the point when he claims that "there has not been a major successful campaign by right-wing blogosphere for over a year now." Conservatives writing on the internet were instrumental in causing the Bush administration to withdraw the nomination of Harriet Miers and replace her with a strong judicial conservative. The fact that these conservative writers were people like David Frum and Ramesh Ponnuru more so than traditional bloggers like the Power Line crew is immaterial (except to the extent that one is infatuated, as Bowers and Aravosis are, with the concept of blogging and one's status as a blogger).(my emphasis)

Pajamaline Paul meets Dick Durbin:

DURBIN: No, you've got it wrong. You've got it wrong. I don't know - who do you work for, incidentally?

Q: Powerline and Pajamas Media.

DURBIN: Jamas Media?

Q: Pajamas Media.

DURBIN: Pajama Media?

Q: And Powerline.

DURBIN: Okay, I'm sorry I wasn't familiar with your publication. But I will just tell you this: the argument is the Constitution spells out the powers of the president, as well as the powers of the legislative branch and the judicial branch. And statutes will be followed if, in fact, they put exclusive authority. That's was FISA does. It creates the word ""exclusive means" - exclusive authority. And they are reading more into it now than the statute obviously allows.

Q: But did you hear Gonzales say-

DURBIN: I'll check out Pajamaline, but I'm not familiar with your publication.

Q: Yeah. Dan Rather knows something about it. (laughter)

You know the rest...

posted by tbogg at 11:07 PM

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Pre-Friday Random Ten

I'm free now to direct a movie
sing a song, or write a book about yours truly
how I'm so interesting, I'm so great
I'm really just a fuckup and it's such a waste

Lemme see now:

Shipbuilding - Elvis Costello
Dancing With The Women At The Bar - Whiskeytown
Lonelier Than This - Steve Earle
Rubicon - KMFDM
I'm Free Now - Morphine
Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More - Steely Dan
Daylight Robbery - Imogen Heap
Little By Little - Groove Armada
Dirty Blonde - The Bad Plus
Darklands - The Jesus and Mary Chain

Bonus #11 with "No shit?" factoid: I Hung My Head - Johnny Cash.

I recently found out that Sting wrote I Hung My Head. I never would have guessed that in a million years.

posted by tbogg at 10:23 PM

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