So sleep deprivation, ladies underwear and waterboarding put the U.S. on the same level as terrorists?
Yeah, right... head on over to The Smoking Gun to see what an Al Qaeda torture manual contains. (Warning: graphic images.)
I was driving my daughter home from school today when I saw a Ford Expedition drving down the street with a dad behind the wheel and two little girls in the car.
As I pull up in traffic I see one little girl in the back seat (with the window open) just bouncing all over the place with no seat belt on. So I while the cars are moving slowly I catch her eye, grab my seat belt and say: "You should put your seat belt on."
Eventually I have to get on the other side of the Expedition to make a turn, and as I pass it I see the driver's window down and the dad yelling at me and making gestures, and they weren't gestures of thanks.
He's riding around with a seven year old in the back set with an open window and no seat belt and he's yelling at ME.
Freaking idiot.
Ok. Pet peeve mode here... What is it with people who are supposed to be friends, yet don't reply to calls or emails?
It takes me a HUGE amount of self-control to not send off a final email or phone call saying "You know what? I'm done. See ya around." I just tend to wonder what the deal is... did I do something to annoy somebody (can't wait for the comments on THAT one), or is it some wierd personality issue on the side of the person I've contacted?
Continue reading "What Is It With People Who Don't Reply?" »
A few months ago, on a movie news and opinion website of mine I wrote an article about what had previously been a great kid's cartoon shifting gears during it's third season into being much more "sexy". The cartoon in question was the animated series Justice League, which was re-christened Justice League Unlimited at the same time the change took place. Little did I know what sort of visitors that article would attract.
Why do I say that? Because since I titled it Justice League: Soft Core Porn For Kids? (due to my feelings on the subject, read the article for details) the page has received tons of traffic. Not from concerned parents, but from sick bastards searching for kiddie porn.
Yesterday I commented on the fact that there are no overweight people in McDonalds commercials. I talked about how people basically have brought obesity upon themselves and at least one person chimed in (as I expected) with the "genetic" argument, which I think may be true in a VERY small minority of people, but no where near the numbers of people who are actually overweight.
In my opinion, a major strike against the "genetic fat" argument is that obesity levels were FAR lower up until 40 years ago than they are today. Add to that the fact that the percentage of people who are overweight in the United States is far greater than the number in other countries.
So what people who cling to the "it's not my fault" argument are saying is that there has been some wierd genetic mutation that has taken place ONLY within the last 40 years and ONLY within the United States.
Wow... I'll bet it was the same people in the U.S. government who brought down the WTC that are behind this insidious conspiracy!!!
Continue reading "Genetic Fat? Then Explain "The Biggest Loser"" »
Penguins.
Freaking penguins.
Everywhere.
American culture has reached penguin saturation. I cannot turn around without finding a stinking penguin staring me in the face. They're in commercials, they're in movies, cereal boxes, juice containers, magazines.... just everywhere, and I've had it.
Corporate America, can you please find some NEW cute thing to use as your basis for the next advertising fad? I'm pretty sure that when I'm hitting the limit a lot of other people must be hitting it as well.
A video has shown up on MySpace that was filmed recently in Tampa Bay, Florida showing two young African-American (ok... black) boys beating the crap out of each other while adults (parents?) cheered, jeered and otherwise encouraged them to keep going.
You can find a local news story with a link to the video here.
The two boys, who like like they are MAYBE 10 years old, tops, wrestle, punch and basically brawl while a bunch of adults are standing around encouraging them to beat on each other and keep going. The video is hard to watch, and basically made my blood boil.
THIS kind of behavior from adults who are supposed to be role models is the reason that the next generation grows up to be poor, violent and utterly under-educated. So don't you DARE try to tell me that this is MY (middle class, conservative, white America's) fault.
And I don't care how uneducated you are... anyone who views that either in person or on video and is not mentally retarded KNOWS it's WRONG.
F***ing morons (the adults, that is).
Source: Drudge Report
I'm only guessing here, but I'm pretty sure that in any of the Middle Eastern languages there must not be a word that means the same as the word "IRONY" in English.
On the heels of the Pope's comments concerning the violent aspects of Islam's founding (forced conversion or death), Muslims across the Middle East have expressed outrage that he would falsely accuse "The religion of peace" of such things by:
- Burning the Pope in effigy.
- Burning 7 Christian churches to the ground.
- Murdering a Catholic nun.
- Threatening that this will lead to war.
If I didn't know better, I'd think this came from one of the sarcastic articles at TheOnion.com or a Saturday Night Live skit, but sadly (or is that frighteningly?) it's for real.
So, 36% of people recently polled by Scripps Howard/Ohio University think that the U.S. government was at the very least partially complicit in the attacks of September 11th.
Are you people insane or delusional? I'll give you a choice, but it's definitely one or the other.
Of course the following bit isn't suprising at all:
The survey also found that people who regularly use the Internet but who do not regularly use so-called "mainstream" media are significantly more likely to believe in 9/11 conspiracies. People who regularly read daily newspapers or listen to radio newscasts were especially unlikely to believe in the conspiracies.
Gee, people who get most of their information online are more likely to believe in these crackpot theories.... Shocking. Really.
Because we all know that everything on the internet is absolutely true, right? I mean you have to have some sort of credentials or history of journalistic knowledge or integrity to take fiive minutes to throw up a website or blog.
Right?
Uh, no. ANYBODY can create a website, and doctored or poorly interpreted videos, hearsay, and innuendo can be MADE to sound like "the truth" when in fact it's a huge load of horseshit (pardon the language, but I was really flabbergbasted by this information).
The poll found that a majority of young adults give at least some credence to a 9/11 conspiracy compared to less than a fourth of people 65 or older. Members of racial and ethnic minorities, people with only a high school education and Democrats were especially likely to suspect federal involvement in 9/11.
Do I really have to add anything to the paragraph above? "Young adults" (I use the term "adults" loosely), non-college educated and shock of shocks: Democrats, are most likely to believe this tripe.
Color me stunned.
Just shoot me now. In this story it's stated that there is a debate going on concerning whether to use the word "obese" to describe... obese children. Why? Because it might hurt their feelings or make them angry.
Here's a snippet from the article:
Obese "sounds mean. It doesn't sound good," said Trisha Leu, 17, who thinks the proposed change is a bad idea.
The Wheeling, Ill., teen has lost 60 pounds since March as part of an adolescent obesity surgery study at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"When you're young, you don't understand what obese means," Leu said. "I still don't understand it."[emphasis added]
That's pathetic. My daughter is 9 years old and she understands EXACTLY what obese means.
Friggin' denial isn't going to make the situation any less real. Doctors NEED to be using the term "obese" as a reality check/slap upside the head for the parents of these kids and the kids themselves.
It's bloody ridiculous. More political correctness run amok and idiot parents who don't understand what they're doing to their children. Adult onset diabetes in kids is skyrocketing due to this obesity epidemic.
Maybe I should just stop complaining and invest in pharmaceutical companies that produce insulin...
Need proof? Here ya go:
Some highlights:
"Scientology is a religion because it's been proven in court."
"L. Ron Hubbard exposed the governments attempted mind control program."
And that's nothing, watch the video which is an actual Scientology orientation video.
"More money for public schools!"
I don't think so, bub.
There is an uproar over a survey distributed to a Wisconson high school class whose teachers required answers and an essay in response to questions that are so outrageous that, well... just shift your eyes leftward.
Now tell me with a straight face that this isn't promoting a homosexual as equal to hetero lifestyle. Do you think that just MAYBE we ought to be asking teens, going through a tumultuous period in their lives who are leaning towards being gay whether THEY are sure about their "selection"?
I am so bloody sick to death of hearing how schools just need more money to educate our kids better. Bite me. Private schools educate kids FAR better for LESS cost per student, so take your request and pack sand. Why are kids failing? Take a look at the "curriculum" to the left. Is this what you send kids to school to learn? They'll graduate "enlightened" and qualified to work at Burger King instead of go on to college.
I mean if it wasn't so disturbing, I'd laugh out loud... "Why do you flaunt your lifestyle with wedding rings, photos at work and talk of your heterosexual escapades?"
Man...
Sure, I see that they're trying to turn the tables here, but it's ridiculous to try and flip things this way IMHO. Perhaps we can also mainstream "swingers" (which I learned today have a new neutral sounding name: "poly") as a respectable alternative lifestyle. How about self-proclaimed "witches"? Maybe we should try to embrace them as well and give them equality with that pesky Christian religion. We are after all in the land where the minority is normal and the majority are abnormal. Talk about "1984"...
I can see this in some whacky liberal college class, but high school?
I am here to tell you that I will NEVER put my daughter in a public school. Ever.
Source: Millwaukee Journal Sentinal
The venerably named William J. Clinton Foundation has actually managed to work with major soft drink vendors and convince them to voluntarily remove high-sugar soft drinks from school.
Of course with the mounting child obesity epidemic in the U.S and the mounting backlash against soft drink and fast food manufacturers, I have no doubt that soda producers are just trying to do on their own what no doubt would be forced on them eventually, or would happen of it's own accord via the school system.
Still, it's a HUGE step in the right direction.
Now if we can get to work on having parents NOT introduce soft drinks to toddlers, maybe we'll start making some real headway. How about this:
"I'm thiiiiiiirsty"
"Here's a glass of water."
"I don't waaaaant water."
"Well I guess you're going to be thirsty, then."
(5 minutes elapses)
Cut to scene of child drinking water.
Any questions?
Source: Washington Post
Proud parents can also choose from other witty logos like: "Jr. Pimp Squad" or "My Mom Is a MILF". (If you don't know what "MILF" stands for, I ain't gonna tell ya.)
Of course if you agree with the mom who is helping her 10 year old daughter fight for the right to wear miniskirts to school, you probably think I'm the one who's out to lunch.
But of course I know that I'm right. :-)
Source: BostonHerald.com
Yup, yet more validation as to why I moved away from California. The state senate (along party lines, Dems: yes, Repubs: no) voted to support the nationwide boycott of schools, jobs and stores by illegal immigrants. Nothing like having the government endorse illegal activity, eh?
Personally I think it's a fine opportunity to note who doesn't show up and send the info to the INS.
Not that they'd be able to do anything of course.
You know, it's funny... I'll bet that if illegal immigrants made a concerted effort to "Americanize" and forced themselves to learn the language and if they would stop chanting "La Raza" and instead wave American flags there would be a very different split on how people feel about this issue.
But instead these folks are wanting their cake and to eat it too... Mexican pride, wave their flag around, speak their native tounge, expect business and schools to adapt to their language. I swear it's just another sign of people mistaking privileges for civil rights.
Source: CBS (via Drudge)
A 4th grade 10 year old girl is unhappy that her Pennsylvania school does not allow girls to wear mini-skirts. Her argument is that as long as shorts are worn underneath and "nothing shows" that it should be allowed. Her mother is behind her 100% in her cute little protest (I don't know if she's a single parent, but there was no father shown or mentioned... wouldn't surprise me though).
What I found especially funny about the whole thing was the girl's quote that "it was all the boys fault, because they keep trying to look up girls skirts."
Right... so what part of that does she (and especially her mother) not get? That's a major part of the reason for not ALLOWING skirts that short. Even if they could get the boys to not do that, it would still be a distraction.
Duh.
I'm sure that a sexual harrassment suit will be filed shortly against the elementary school boys...
Source: WPXI
Got a couple of items sent to me by a reader... one of them actually kind of makes sense, and the other makes me so mad I want to go out and slug some parents:
Larger ambulances needed to acommodate obese passengers
It seems that a Las Vegas company is putting extra heavy duty (pardon the pun) ambulances into service due to the increasing number of morbidly obese passengers. If you think about it, it actually makes sense... despite what so-called "fat rights" groups say, obesity causes a variety of medical problems (that we all pay for through higher medical insurance rates, thanks very much), so an increase in obese passengers doesn't surprise me. A statement from the manufacturer of these extra-wide ambulances with beefier gurneys and winches:
...in the last six months, AMR has handled 75 calls involving patients that weighed more than 600 pounds.
Nice, huh?
Now here's the one that sends me through the roof:
Car seats not large enough to accomodate some children
A new study says many young children are too heavy for standard car-safety seats and manufacturers are starting to make heftier models to accommodate them. It seems that over 250 THOUSAND children are too heavy for standard car seats to accomdate them, and most of those are three-year-olds who weigh more than 40 pounds.
Sickening that parents are doing this, yes, doing this to their kids. I am fast hitting the point where I won't be able to keep my mouth shut in public. I'll no doubt either really offend someone or get my butt kicked.
I'll keep you posted on which it turns out to be.
More incredibly stupid social engineering coming to a Kindergarten class near you. It's been decided that starting on Monday, 5 & 6 year olds apparently need to know about HIV and AIDS.
At least they'll be putting it in "kiddie terms", saying that HIV is a "germ", is "not easy to get" and that it could lead to AIDS which is "hard to get well from." At least for now (oh, you just wait) teachers will be leaving sex and drugs out of the discussions.
Education Department spokeswoman Kelly Devers:
"The curriculum is absolutely developmentally appropriate and contains positive messages about staying healthy,"
Can you believe this crap? So they'll teach them about HIV and AIDS, but then in High School they'll turn around and have them putting condoms on bananas...
You want to teach "positive messages about staying healthy"? How about BASIC NUTRITION!?!?! The percentage of people in the U.S. who have HIV is approximately 0.3% while the percentage of Americans who are obese is over 60%.
For the most part (of course there are always exceptions) both obesity and HIV/AIDS are preventable. The former through educating people about basic nutrition and the latter by not getting involved in unprotected (and in particular, gay) sex or use of intravenous drugs.
However at a +60% level, I would think that tackling obesity would be a FAR better place to start in Kindergarten than HIV/AIDS education.
So tell me again how there's no agenda to "normalize" homosexuality in our culture when out of all the possible health-related issues to tackle out there HIV/AIDS continues to dominate the spotlight. Far more people suffer from cancer and heart disease, and record numbers of kids are developing adult-onset diabetes due to parents feeding them crap to the point they weigh 50% more than they should.
Look at this picture and tell me we don't need to address obesity more than HIV:
And you KNOW that's not some freaky anomaly. Take a GOOD look around folks.
Source: New York Daily News
According to a new study, it's being reported that aging Canadian Baby Boomers spend more time watching TV or surfiing the 'net than they do on sex and romance.
The survey by pollsters Ipsos Reid, commissioned by Pfizer Inc., the maker of Viagra, found that Canadians between the ages of 40 and 64 spend an average of 15 minutes a day on sex and romance, but can spend as much as five hours a day watching TV or surfing the Internet.
Um, ok... off the top of my head, the only group I can think of that might possibly spend MORE time on sex than on other activities would be porn actors.
I mean seriously, what the heck is this survey supposed to be saying? They say their figures are based on averages... 15 minutes X 7 days = 1 hour and 45 minutes a week. Now outside of the early stages of a marriage/relationship when folks can't keep their hands off each other, anyone who has been married a while or in a long term relationship will probably agree that almost 2 hours a week is a pretty darned good number. :-)
What would they prefer to see? Three hours a day on average? For one thing, who the heck has the time and energy and on the other hand you'd probably be told you had a sexual addiction.
Yeesh.
Source: Reuters
Sorry about not posting over the past week, but I've been otherwise occupied and nothing much has jumped out at me that has been worth writing about. About the most relevant thing I can think of is the fact that I'm not going to bother tuning into the Oscars this year since they will no doubt be a Hollywood, left-wing socio-political circle jerk.
I haven't seen the leading contenders for the awards anyway. Watching the celebs gush over Capote, Brokeback Mountain, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana and Transamerica would no doubt either make my head explode or cause me to launch some heavy object at my HDTV, and I'd rather do neither.
I don't follow local politics much (although I plan to start paying more attention), but a bill that was introduced recently which would allow police to pull people over and ticket them specifically for not wearing a seatbelt, was killed by a committee, 4-6.
What I find amazing is how anyone could vote against that.
A poll was conducted recently in Utah that showed that 47% of those asked were of the opinion that you should not be able to be pulled over specifically for a seatbelt violation. I've sat down and tried to think it through, but I really can't come up with a reason that one out of two people would think it's a bad idea, beyond the fact that they may not be very bright and have a poor grasp of the laws of physics.
Out of 282 highway deaths last year in the state, 208 were not wearing seatbelts. That's almost 75%, folks.
Due to my political leanings, much to my chagrin it was a Democrat who proposed the bill which was shot down. And to add to my annoyance, here is a quote from one of the folks who voted against the bill and happens to be a Republican:
"People with bad habits resort to bad habits. Where do you draw the line? At what point do you take away too many civil liberties?"
How did this guy get elected into public office? Driving without a seatbelt is now a "civil liberty"? Bad habits??? Well heck, can I use the "bad habit" defense the next time I get pulled over speeding?
Yeesh.
The next thing that popped into my head was that if Darwin was right, eventually there won't be any opposition to seatbelt laws, because those who are against them will eventually die in car wrecks, and only those folks of sound mind who understand the consequences of NOT wearing them will be around to voice their opinions and vote on such things.
Source: Deseret News
From HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel on February 7th, in regards to the Winter Olympics:
"So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention."
Nice, huh?
So do I understand this correctly? If there were a significant number of blacks in the Winter Olympics, then the Winter Games would count as actual athletic competition?
Can you imagine Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh saying the equivalent, but reverse, concerning sprinters in the Summer Olympics or talking about professional basketball? How long before the words left his lips would you have the standard assortment of supposed black civil rights "leaders" in front of cameras and microphones calling him a racist?
Yet here we are a week after that comment and it finally pops up on Drudge via Newsbusters.org.
Not to mention how in his full quote he insults ALL athletes that participate in the Winter Games (click on the Newsbusters link for full quote and audio).
Putz.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. :-)
I might even break down and buy some flowers today, but the holiday would be more of a side note than the real reason.
I wonder when the ACLU is going to sue to not allow grammar school kids to exchange valentines at school...?
Especially on the internet, athiests can get pretty venemous when getting into discussions about religion or about things where Christians take a stand. But say what you want about Christians... That we're intolerant, trying to push morality on those who don't want it, denying a woman's "right to choose", small-minded for not liking NBC's The Book of Daniel, and so on, but you know what?
You don't see us burning down buildings, making bomb threats or threatening to otherwise murder people.
Sure we organize and start letter-writing and email campaigns to advertisers of shows that we think are vile, but compare that to what's going on in Europe and the Middle East over these Danish cartoons.
You Christian-bashers in the U.S. have no idea how easy you've got it.
Sure, some of us get out of hand in these online debates (some actually embarrass me with their misinterpretation of the Bible and Christian principles)... personally I sometimes get to the point where I cross the line because I find it difficult to sit there while some psuedo-intellectual essentially calls people who believe in God ignorant idiots. You know, the kind of thing that they would NEVER have the nerve to say to someone's face, so yeah, sometimes I go off.
But how often do you read or hear one of us wishing people who disagree with us were DEAD? Only yesterday on a very popular blog I visit from time to time, while reading comments concerning the Danish cartoon controversy and fallout, I read several comments wishing death upon Westerners.
So all you athiests and anti-Christians out there might want to think about focusing your energies on another religion instead, eh? Maybe the one that wants you dead instead of the one that doesn't want condoms distributed in high schools...
According to Drudge John Kerry stated the following on NBC Today:
...53 percent of our children don't graduate from high school.
According to census.gov in 2002 82.6% of high school students graduated. Drudge found a stat on the census site that states that 85.9% of people between 20 and 24 years of age are high school graduates.
Now I certainly believe there's an educational crisis in the U.S. (look at the literacy rate and test scores compared to some other "backward" nations), but there's just nothing like pulling a number out of thin air, is there Mr. Kerry?
Throwing more money at schools ain't gonna fix it either... if you ask me the NEA and the teacher's unions need to be dismantled, and schools need to get away from their social engineering project of creating yet another generation of unquestioning Liberals and get back to the basics of educating students in reading, writing, math, history (non-spun version) and science.
Oh, and how about PARENTS take some responsibility and get involved in both their children's studies and their school. I'd lay 10 to 1 that across the board the majority of students who are excelling have parents that are actively involved in their education and that the ones who are tanking, don't.
Want a "stealth" fitness tool? Kettlebells are the killer workout device that no one has heard of. More effective than just about anything else at burning fat and to increase strength.