Month: May 2010
In Case Anyone’s Unclear on Why Journalism’s Imploding
Look no further than this. Good God. We can’t quote people who are outraged! What if they say mean things, like, “this is a monstrous and unconstitutional thing that should not even be considered in a free society” and we have nobody on the other side to talk about Jack Bauer so as to balance reasonable anger with, you know, some crazy? What if they’re upset and thus, you know, uncouth? What if theyraise their voices? Dear Lord. The last decade has accelerated the decline of newspapers in no small part because they failed absolutely to take a stand on … Continue reading In Case Anyone’s Unclear on Why Journalism’s Imploding
The Internet Gave Journalism a Mickey Finn
I’m sure somehow this is the bloggers’ responsibility. viaWindy Citizen. A. Continue reading The Internet Gave Journalism a Mickey Finn
Making the Freepi Look Good
Comments on the Miss USA pageant, which was won by Miss Michigan, Rima Fakih, who was born in Lebanon: Why didn’t they ask her a real question like should they build a mosque across the street from ground zero or if she supported Hezbollah or has she ever had fantasies about Jewish men? This should give the Muslim Terrorists something else to hate us for…a Muslim girl running around in bikinis rather than that stupid black sheet. Did she immediately blow herself up after they put the crown on her? Instead of the tiarra they should have given her a … Continue reading Making the Freepi Look Good
A Colorblind Society
Thank God we live in one. A. Continue reading A Colorblind Society
Imaginary Liberals
Thers, responding to that “coastal elites are so stupid and mean to the South all the time” piece that’s going around: Thers’ Fifth Iron Law of the Internets: Twice as many people have gone on the Internet to claim they stopped being liberals because of things said at coastal liberal cocktail parties than, statistically speaking, could have ever attended coastal liberal cocktail parties to begin with. Also, there’s a certain common sense matter to consider here; to wit, does anyone believe that, say, anyone associated with Pajamas Media would ever have been invited to too many parties to start with?Thinkabout … Continue reading Imaginary Liberals
Weekend Question Thread
What one food do you absolutely refuse to eat? Me? Olives. I can tolerate most things I don’t like, like mushrooms and green beans, but olives absolutely make me heave. I can’t even drink a martini an olive has been in. A. Continue reading Weekend Question Thread
Saturday Blogwhoring Thread
p>Post away, you fucking fucks. A. Continue reading Saturday Blogwhoring Thread
Time To Kill
I have a thing for rootsy melodic music with great harmony vocals. It’s what happens when you grow up listening to The Band. This is one of my favorite summer road trip tunes, which makes it seasonal and even semi-pertinent or is that impertinent? Me, I’m rarely pertinent but *always* impertinent: p align=”center” class=”asset asset-video” style=”margin: 0pt auto; display: block;”> Continue reading Time To Kill
Tell me about your asshole
I spent three hours today in a faculty meeting that wouldn’t die. What makes it worse is that we’re a small department, so people notice if you’re gone. Worse than that, it was a continuation of a faculty meeting held over from the previous week because THAT one went three hours. However, what makes this horrific beyond all imagination is our resident asshole was in top form. I’m not going to explain the full nature of his assholic behavior, as to do so would only bring back the headache I spent the last seven hours trying to get rid of. … Continue reading Tell me about your asshole
The War’s Never Over
Laid to rest at home: Glenn Elliott, Mike’s lone surviving sibling, was glad to see so many people out to honor the brother he barely knew. He was in grade school when the telegram came informing his parents of Mike’s death. “I don’t actually remember talking to Mike when he was home on leave before he went overseas,” the silver-haired kid brother said Tuesday morning. Elliott came to Mattoon at age 8 with his family from Kentucky, where he was born. The Elliott family lived on North Fourth Street in Mattoon and Mike went to school with his brothers and sisters. … Continue reading The War’s Never Over
Malakas Of The Week: The Louisiana House Of Representatives
I could do this every week the Louisiana Lege is in session but this is malakatudinous even for them. Some bozo namedRep. Henry Burns sponsored a bill allowing guns in places of worship if the pastor, priest, rabbi, mullah or wiccan officiant approves. There’s no evidence that anyone affected, or even the NRA, were clamoring for this measure but Mr. Burns wants them to feel safe and the only way to feel safe in the Deep South is to have armed guards. This is not theonly foolish thing the lege had taken up recently but it’s an excellent example of … Continue reading Malakas Of The Week: The Louisiana House Of Representatives
‘They Made Me Eat Testicles’
Kids in restaurants: With some frequency, I take kids out when reviewing because I want to see how the restaurant reacts. In my experience, at Asian restaurants, especially Chinese and Japanese, the staff often willingly indulge the children. Though obviously it’s not just Asian restaurants. Loving families will choose restaurants where families and children are welcome. There is a class of restaurants that are inappropriate for kids: ones where you can’t eat in under an hour. Even adults get antsy. Pick a place that has food the kid likes, but encourage and let them explore. Fuck the kids meal, with … Continue reading ‘They Made Me Eat Testicles’
Dining on Ashes
As I watched my Cavs bleed out on the very ugly parquet floor of the new Boston Garden, all I could think was “It’s just not fair.” We had home court throughout the playoffs. We had the best player on the planet. We had an owner who was willing to put pieces around him. We had a deep bench. We made some great acquisitions in the off-season. We pulled off an amazing deadline trade. This is our year. Instead, we got the shit kicked out of us and made an early exit. When you root for teams in Cleveland, you … Continue reading Dining on Ashes
Friday Ferretblogging
Riot disapproves of your Tom Clancy collection: Bucky keeps an eye out for approaching ninjas: A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging
Friday Catblogging: Della Street Does Back Of Town
Young Della Street only sits on our desk and gazes at our computer whilst Dr. A is online. Della is apparently a fan of our very ownAthenae because it’s one of her posts that she’s gazing at. I’m jealous, y’all. I bet Bucky is a fan of Athenae’s, not of mine. Oh, the pain, the pain, the pain. Uh oh, I sound like Dr. Smith onLost In Space only I seem to have misplaced the Robot and Will Robinson… Continue reading Friday Catblogging: Della Street Does Back Of Town
Great Moments In Local Teevee News, NOLA Edition
The ABC affiliate has the lowest rated local teevee news show in New Orleans, which seems to give their anchor, Michael Hill, license to be, uh, licentious: p align=”center” class=”asset asset-video” style=”margin: 0pt auto; display: block;”> HT : Kevin Allman at the Gambit Tabloid Blog. Continue reading Great Moments In Local Teevee News, NOLA Edition
Today on Athenae’s Obsession with Giving Tommy a Break
While Tommy’s taking some well-earned downtime from the Freepi and their crazy, Jude and I are spending the whole afternoon cackling overthese lunatics who are losing their shit because Laura Bush doesn’t think women who have abortions should be burned at the stake. A sampling of the choicest responses: I hate to say this, but it makes me doubt whether Bush was really pro-life. (Don’t forget, he wanted bra-burning leftist Harriet Miers on the USSC.) I thought the line on Miers was that she was a slightly dippy lightweight with an awkward crush on Laura’s husband, not a liberal firebrand. … Continue reading Today on Athenae’s Obsession with Giving Tommy a Break
He Hit the Share Button by Accident, Guys
Seriously, you guys.You guys, seriously: I intended to include the wording ‘we would use votes and not bullets’ (but) hit the share button by accident before I finished and decided to leave it, thinking it would not be taken in a literal sense. I’m sorry if I confused anyone. This is a classic case of someone needing a press secretary kind of like my friend B’s daughter, who at the age of six used to turn to her mother in restaurants and say, in a tone not unlike that of General Patton addressing the troops: “STOP TALKING!” You know, for … Continue reading He Hit the Share Button by Accident, Guys
Rare Good Oil Gusher News
I wish it were on the containment front but we gotta take what we can get.The Feds are likely to file criminal charges against one or more of the Corporations responsible for fouling the Gulf: Federal investigators are likely to file criminal charges against at least one of the companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico spill, raising the prospects of significantly higher penalties than a current $75 million cap on civil liability, legal experts say. The inquiry by the Homeland Security and Interior Departments into how the spill occurred is still in its early stages and authorities have not … Continue reading Rare Good Oil Gusher News
This is Your Brain on Wingnut
They don’t seem to realize that their comparison, as absurd as it is, also is a tacit admission of somethingwe’ve known from the beginning: Junior was an epic fuck up. But they still can’t let go. Scrambled eggs… Continue reading This is Your Brain on Wingnut
Kids Today Work Too Hard To Be Romantic
Stupid kids, trying to succeed: About a decade ago, one began to notice a profusion of Organization Kids at elite college campuses. These were bright students who had been formed by the meritocratic system placed in front of them. They had great grades, perfect teacher recommendations, broad extracurricular interests, admirable self-confidence and winning personalities. If they had any flaw, it was that they often had a professional and strategic attitude toward life. They were not intellectual risk-takers. They regarded professors as bosses to be pleased rather than authorities to be challenged. As one admissions director told me at the time, … Continue reading Kids Today Work Too Hard To Be Romantic
Bloggers Should Pay the AP for Linking To Stuff!
Go on, sue Google for appropriating and profiting from your content, Associated Press. I look forward tostuff like this being read aloud in court: * Speaking of yesterday’s kerfuffle, my intern Dan Weberbroke the story yesterday that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady was contradicting himself on his previous support for a ten percent across the board state budget cut. Brady claimed during a media availability last week that he never supported an across the board cut and Dan pounced while other reporters let it go. He pressed Brady to admit that he had, in fact, supported an across the board … Continue reading Bloggers Should Pay the AP for Linking To Stuff!
Exit Brown, Enter The Posh Boys
Today on Adrastos’ obsession with British politics: I spent much of my day off watching the BBC stream yesterday’s political machinations in the UK. It was alternately fascinating and depressing. It was fascinating to watch the Tories and Lib Dems form the firstBritish coalition governmentsince World War II and somewhat depressing since, for all their flaws, I’m a non-citizen Labour backer or is that fellow traveler? No, I haven’t forgotten about the Iraq War but that was a case of the party being dragged kicking and screaming in support of the Prime Minister who led them out of 18 years … Continue reading Exit Brown, Enter The Posh Boys
“Only in the last moment of human history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.” *
After four decades, the Brown Pelican was taken off the endangered list last year. Pelicans currently nesting on Gulf Coast barrier islands are right in the bulls-eye for theoil spill as it drifts shoreward. Brown pelican, Caspian tern, royal tern, Sandwich tern, least tern, laughing gull, black skimmer, American oystercatcher, Wilson’s plover, snowy plover, reddish egret, roseate spoonbill, mottled duck, clapper rail, black rail, seaside sparrow, red-cockaded woodpecker, sandhill cranes, and all other species of plovers, sandpipers, ibises, herons, egrets, warblers, orioles, buntings, flycatchers, swallows, marsh-dwelling songbirds, ospreys, hawks, eagles. Those are just the birds. All other animals in the … Continue reading “Only in the last moment of human history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.” *
WWTFUS: this thing you pushed with all your might
By this time next week, I want everyone here to have mastered this routine, okay? Now, get to work! Blaine Thurier talks aboutcreating the video. Continue reading WWTFUS: this thing you pushed with all your might
Tuesday Night Music
Macrochipping
Sounds like a good idea to me: flemco posted about the Iowa Congressional candidate who favors microchipping illegal aliens. In the comments: galbinus_caeli: As I said elsewhere, I support MacroChipping this fucker by shoving Doritos under his skin. kierthos: Wait, wait, wait. Wait. Nacho Cheese flavor or Cool Ranch? egearman: Cool Ranch. We aren’t barbarians. A. Continue reading Macrochipping
Instant Malakatude
Some fuckmook namedGus Lubin at Business Insider.com has described the gulf oil gusher as follows: While oil infiltrates the coastline, astronauts are watching the beautiful patterns of 315,000 barrels of oil released onto the open sea. If you’re not directly affected by the oil slick, they make for a great show. Too bad NASA hasn’t invented a technology that could clean this up. Beautiful? Great show? It’s a fucking unnatural disaster you stupid piece of shit. It’s an increasingly small planet so this affects all of us. You sir, are not only an idiot but a malaka of epic proportions. … Continue reading Instant Malakatude
Non-Profit News Takedowns: Sometimes The Work is Done For Me
I was going totake this apart— Nonprofit news sites don’t make money! They can’t make money! They pay their editors too much! Or too little! Their names suck! People suck! — and then I read into the comments and discovered smart people had it mostly taken care of. Which is good, because goddamn, people: You’ve only focused on one slice of the nonprofit news world. What about financially healthy institutions that set up nonprofit news enterprises as off-shoots of their main business? Think about Kaiser Health News — an example of a for-profit institution doing nonprofit news. Or Human Rights … Continue reading Non-Profit News Takedowns: Sometimes The Work is Done For Me