Category: Stupid

Journamalism at NPR

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I heard the story today about Hillary Clinton going to a restaurant in in Iowa, and having her picture taken with a waitress, but not leaving a tip on NPR.

The story was untrue, the campaign says that they paid $157, and left a $100 tip, and it was confirmed by the restaurant manager.

So much for Journalism, at least the journalism of David Greene, at NPR.

Update, NPR has a correction:

Editor’s Note: Since this story aired, Hillary Clinton’s campaign contacted NPR to say that the campaign paid Maid-Rite a bill for $157 the day of Clinton’s visit and left $100 in tip money. NPR contacted Maid-Rite manager Brad Crawford, who confirmed that a bill was paid and tip money was left. Crawford, who was not in the restaurant at the time, said that he believes a campaign staffer left the money with one of his employees, but “where Hillary was sitting, there was no tip left.”

How about a little fact checking in the future.

What Chris Bowers Says

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The media in general, and the Washington punditocracy* protray the “Blue Dog Democrats” as brave people standing up to the extremists in their party. Chris Bowers makes a convincing argument that the opposite is true, that these are folks who are the most extreme sort of hysterical fear.

The concluding ‘graph:

Blue Dogs actually seem like the most scared people in all of Washington, D.C. as a result of this article. They are afraid of Republican attacks. They are afraid of conservative pundits. They are afraid of their constituents. They are afraid of motions to recommit that are meaningless in terms of actual policy. And they are protected by Emanuel and Hoyer, who seem petrified of all the same things. They seem to all operate in a perpetual state of fear, despite their surface machismo. And yes, it does seem like fear, rather than simply conservative beliefs in this case, because otherwise why would they be in favor of a meaningless procedural motion that has nothing to do with policy? The widespread fear in the tough guy wing of the Democratic Party is one of the great ironies of modern American politics.

I would add that not only does this make it more difficult to accomplish things, their behavior reinforces Republican attacks against the Democrats as without principle, or guts, and never willing to take a step to do the right thing.

It is a tragedy of the commons. By acting in their own perceived (and only perceived, look at Ron Paul, whose support is driven by his forthrightness, not the policies involved) best interest, they destroy the common resource of productive political discourse.

*Which might be better described as a Kakistocracy.

Weapons of Mass Digestion*

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Your tax dollars at work.

FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here

By Jeff Stein, CQ National Security Editor
Like Hansel and Gretel hoping to follow their bread crumbs out of the forest, the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists.

The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.

The brainchild of top FBI counterterrorism officials Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, according to well-informed sources, the project didn’t last long. It was torpedoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division, Michael A. Mason, who argued that putting somebody on a terrorist list for what they ate was ridiculous — and possibly illegal.

…

If Mudd and Hulon are still working for the FBI, something is deeply wrong.

*That title is not my idea. It comes from the guy who runs MyNuMo, who, like everyone on the bloody internet, writes better than I do.

Fred Thompson Clown Show: This One Should Win an Oscar™

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OK, this one takes the cake. Philip J. Martin’s until, his resignation the chairman of Thompson’s “First Day Founders” team, has felony convictions on drug charges.

Martin pleaded guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979, the Washington Post reported Sunday. In 1983, Martin was charged with cocaine trafficking and conspiracy stemming from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, the newspaper reported. He pleaded no contest.

It’s one for a contributor to have a record, but this guy was a major public player.

The Right Wing Has Run Out of Scandals to Pimp

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But like any good environmentalists, they have have turned to recycling. They gone back to accusations that Hillary is a lesbian.

It appears that the right wingers do not know the difference between a lesbian and a scary woman. While there is an intersection of these groups, it does not approach unity.

Of course, the wankeriffic Mickey Kaus dutifully reports this as a breaking rumor, because, I guess, that he feels honor bound to his readers to report every lame assed rumor out there.

Have I mentioned the rumor that Mickey Kaus blows goats? I feel compelled to report that too.

What I dread is the fact that Hillary’s will now leak a sex tape of her and Bill to refute the rumor.

The horror…the horror…

Fred Thompson Clown Show: Gun Control Edition

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Remember Freddie Thompson getting all freaked out about the UN and guns?

He referred to a August 2006 declaration of the Human Rights Council Sub-commission

Urges States to adopt laws and policies regarding the manufacture, possession, transfer and use of small arms that comply with principles of international human rights and international humanitarian law;

Also urges States to provide training on the use of firearms by armed forces and law enforcement personnel consistent with basic principles of international human rights and humanitarian law with special attention to the promotion and protection of human rights as a primary duty of all State officials;

Further urges States to take effective measures to minimize violence carried out by armed private actors, including using due diligence to prevent small arms from getting into the hands of those who are likely to misuse them;

Ummm…let’s see….This threat to the 2nd amendment is a statement that people make and sell firearms responsibly, that they train soldiers and police properly, and that you do your best to keep guns out of the hands of bad people.

Pretty scary stuff.

These Are Not Terrorists, They Everyone’s Stereotype of Trekkies Who Need to Get A Life

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Well, there has now been a plea in the Fort Dix “terrorism” case. It’s Agron Abdullahu, and he was charged with weapons violations, not a direct involvement in the planning or execution of the event.

The more I look at what various “home grown” terrorists appear to have been planning, the more that it is clear that hese guys are serious wannabes, and they remind me less of terrorists than they do of the pseudo trekkies who referred to episodes by number in that Saturday Night Live sketch with William Shatner.

Remember these guys? They decided that they wanted to attack a military installation, and settled on Fort Dix, because one of them knew the lay of the base from delivering pizzas there.

The FBI learned of the plot when the men went to a Circuit City store and asked a clerk to transfer a jihad training video of themselves onto a DVD..

Which are they more like, this guy, , or this Guy?

My money is on comic book guy.

You find the same thing with the “Seas of David” morons. You know, the ones who were “planning to bomb the Sears Tower”, but needed to get some groundwork out of the way, so they, like, you know, went down to the local 7-11 to find supporters, and combat with paintball.

Let’s be fair. While I have met some serious lamers at Science Fiction Conventions, and this is not limited to Trek, none of them are this lame. These guys make that 45 year old virgin arguing about continuity in Lost in Space look like Pierce Brosnan.

What The Hon. Dr. St. Rev. Bradley S. Rocket, Esq, PhD, MD Said

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Sadly, No! » Death, Be Thee Proud And Take Me Now

Basically, he said that Gregg Easterbrook is a wanker.

This time, because of what Easterbrook wrote about the upcoming Colts/Patriots game. Personally, I’m conflicted about the game. I’ve hated, yes hated, the Colts ever since Irsay left Baltimore in the middle of the night, but the Pats just made my beloved Redskins look like a PeeWee football team on Sunday.

That being said, Easterbrook’s latest column, in which he casts the upcoming Colts-Pats game as a battle between good and evil.

Why the hell does anyone pay Easterbrook anything to write? He may write better than I do, who doesn’t, but the man makes Dan Quayle look like Albert Einstein*.

I’ll also say that whatever my feeling about the Pats as folks who just pasted the ‘Skins, they are in a very real way an answer to much of the superstar bad behavior in sport. They are introduced as a team at superbowls, they play as a team, and big mouthed jerks on other teams, go there and become team players†.

*To be fair, it’s Albert Einstein the actor, who’s nom de theater is Albert Brooks, but still.
†Corey Dillon and Randy Moss come to mind.

Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week Bullsh&%

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Well, Whiskey Fire has the scoop on the latest offense against common decency by the forces of Jihad, it appears that noble Judeo-Christian warrior Nonie Darwish is being target by Hamas. How do we know? Because noble Judeo-Christian Phyllis Chesler warrior tells so in her essay, The Heroic Nonie Darwish Faces Muslim “Mean Girl” Power at Wellesley.

It appears that Nonie was giving a talk at Wellesley, and some girls showed up in hijab*, rolled their eyes when they disagreed, whispered to each other, and some of them went to the bathroom in the middle of her talk.

It appears that Nonie is right, and that these “mean grllllzz” are “are Hamas-trained“. In fact, they are likely an al Queida cell, and I’m getting on the phone to homeland security. If we don’t stop them now, they may mock David Whorowitz!

David Whorowitz, Nonie Darwish, Phyllis Chesler and the rest of his ilk are a bunch of whiners and wankers.

*Islamic head scarves.

Pennsylvania is for F*&^ing Morons

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Seriously, it’s un-bloody-believably stupid toto refuse to release the statewide list of polling places because of some non-specific concerns about “terrorist” threats. They claim that they are doing this to, “protect the public and the integrity of the voting process”.

This is the most basic sort of information for anyone who wants to coordinate any sort of state-wide effort.

If these guys were any stupider, they’d need someone to feed them.

Yet Another Reason to Shut Down the USAF as an Independent Branch of the Service

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Yes, after experience in Iraq and Afghanistan prove that our latest line of jets, the F-22 and the F-36 have next to no utility relative to our existing aircraft, THE USAF is requesting another 20 F-22s to keep the production line open.

Unlike all the other services, the Air-Force exists to serve those other branches. The Navy controls the ocean, the marines do amphibious assault, the army holds the land, and Air Force engages in operations to make sure that the previous three can accomplish their goals as easily as possible.

An independent Air Force does not serve the national defense. Their priorities only match the defense needs of the country by accident.

Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week is Scam to Get Speaking Gigs

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David Whororitz admits it in an interview with the George Washington University Hatchet, the Student Newspaper.

“I’m a prominent conservative but no one is inviting me to speak at their campuses,” Horowitz said in an interview with The Hatchet. “I had to create an event.”

Ummm…No, you are an obnoxious lying fascist clown, who jumped from one extreme to the other, and have since been trying to milk that for all it’s worth.

You have less credibility as a speaker than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad*, who at least believes the crap spewing forth from his mouth.

*And DAMN you for forcing me look up his name.