Monthly Archives: July 2012

Jul 31 2012
8 Comments
Athenae, Faith, Religion

Avoidance

So some members of a Baptist church came to the pastor and said, we heard you’re marrying some black folks in here and we’re not okay with that.

All due respect, my children, the pastor replied, that you are freaked out by non-white peoples is not Jesus’s major problem at the moment. Nor is it mine. I am sorry, but you are going to have to suck it up and just … I don’t know, not come to the wedding? Were you even invited? Then what the heck do you care? Go home, watch Storage Wars and smoke marijuana like normal people do on Saturdays.

Except not:

Insiders say five or six members went to the Rev. Stan Weatherford after seeing the couple’s wedding rehearsal the Thursday night before their Saturday wedding.

The church pastor said he was surprised by the reaction of some church members.

“I didn’t want to have a controversy within the church, and I didn’t want a controversy to affect the wedding of Charles and Te’Andrea. I wanted to make sure their wedding day was a special day,” Weatherford told WLBT-Channel 3.

Charles Wilson said it was a huge disappointment that he and his wife couldn’t get married at the church they attended because of the color of their skin.

“I feel like it was blatant racial discrimination,” Wilson said Friday.

The 150-year-old church hasn’t had any black couples married there in modern times. Weatherford married the couple but moved the ceremony to a nearby church.

He didn’t want to have a controversy, so he appeased the loudest, angriest people in the room, and told the couple who wanted to get married that they’d have to move so that … I don’t get exactly what they were hurting. He didn’t want to have a controversy. Well, he’s sure got one now, and it’s well deserved.

I like the line about how it was the rehearsal that got the bigots upset, because the bride and her family had been involved with the church for a while and the groom had been attending. So a couple of black people in the congregation on Sundays was okay, but a whole bunch of ’em? Like more than three? Standing together? Clearly that’s an invasion of some sort and we can’t have that.

And the comments are full of “this isn’t the whole church, some of us like black people, etc” which I’m sure is also true. The defending your own Something about that, though: The five or six people who asked him to get the black couple out of sight of their white eyeballs are assholes, but there are always assholes in the world. All the bigots will not eventually die out. It will never happen. They don’t win when they act like bigots, they win when nice-enough well-meaning people who are supposed to be better than this decide that in order to keep the bigots quiet, we all should pretend to agree with them.

In which case not only is the controversy not avoided, but nobody learns anything and nobody grows one bit. You can avoid and avoid and avoid, and keep shrinking the world down so that eventually it’s just a ten-by-ten room with you and your fellow racists, but that’s not living, people, that’s not life. In a church of all places you should be throwing the doors wide, letting in as many people as possible, especially the ones who aren’t familiar to you and the ones who make you nervous and the ones you aren’t sure you’re gonna like.

That’s the only way any of this gets better. I can sit in my house with my fellow white people and think about how I need to be less of a racist, but I’m not gonna be less of a racist unless I get out there and get to know a lot more people and start ACTING LIKE LESS OF A RACIST. This pastor could have done quite a job by asking people who objected to the wedding to attend it, or watch the video later (admitting creepy bigoted busybodies to your wedding not being a thing many people want to do, shockingly) or really anything else up to and including telling these few people who have nothing more pressing to worry about to shut the holy hell up.

That wouldn’t have avoided controversy, certainly. Last I checked, though, the head of that particular religion got himself nailed to a tree for making a scene in public about the treatment of the downtrodden. Maybe he should have just moved somewhere else.

A.

Jul 31 2012
5 Comments
Current Affairs, Propaganda

Pay Attention, Please

Okay, Newsweek? Y’all are doing it wrong. Michael Tomasky, you are doing it wrong. This, right here, is doing it wrong:

Mitt-romney-newsweek-465x620

Okay, look, I get the whole “we’re trying to create a buzz” thing. I get that when you put President Obama on the cover with a rainbow halo and call him our “first gay president” or choose the photo of Michele Bachmann where her eyes look super-crazy you’re doing it for the shock value. Just likeTime put the lady with the titty-sucking 12 year old or whatever he was on the cover. Let’s “start a conversation,” let’s be “controversial,” let’s “go viral.” Yeah I get it, y’all are desperate for the links and the Tweets and the Face-space hoo-hah and all that but Jeebus on a fucking Saltine get your damn meme right when you pull this stupid crap.

Look, no one and I meanno one thinks Romney is a wimp. The meme, the fear, the slam, the 411 on Romney is that he is abully. Not a wimp. A fucking bully who led a gang of miscreants toforcibly cut the hair of a fellow student, who used todress up as a police officer and pull people over just for shits and giggles. Someonedescribed as “soulless.” A craven opportunist who will say and do anything to get elected because, as we are constantly reminded, it’s “his turn.”

Where did this “wimp” crap come from? This tells me you guys aren’t even paying attention to the kabuki discourse in which you hope to triumph. You get a -2 from the Tennessee judge in the Media Depravity competition.

That is all.

Tagged , , ,
Jul 31 2012
4 Comments
Athenae, So Called Liberal Media

Or, You Know, There’s Journalism

Is Newsweek run by doofi who haven’t had an original political thought in three decades?

Why yes, it is:

“You can see the editorial thought process at work. What kind of cover story could create the sort of pop that the classic ‘Wimp Factor’ cover did? Then inspiration struck: How about another ‘Wimp Factor’ cover?” —Jonathan Chait

Look, my sympathy for Mitt Romney is pretty minimal. In fact, my sympathy for anyone running for national office who is being unfairly treated by our idiot media is pretty minimal. Maybe 25 years ago you could have had some expectation of serious debate here, but I think the Iraq war run-up weighed down that particular sack of kittens and flung it into Lake Erie.

This is crap, though. This serves nobody. This is about nothing: Is Mitt Romney a pussy? Is he too rich? Too insecure? Not insecure enough? Deep down, is he really a good guy? Does he love his wife? Does he “love” his wife? Is he secretly into furries? WHO THE FUCK CARES?

Would Mitt Romney, as president, put into place policies that would punish me and mine for living the lives we live? On taxes, on social issues, on education, on health care? Absolutely. Tell me about that, put that in 48-point double-burn on page one.

I suppose, though, that that isn’t quite as snappy as one about how many grizzlies Mitt Romney could fend off using just his bare hands, or whatever the fuck this is about.

A.

Jul 31 2012
Athenae, So Called Liberal Media

A Jury of Her Peers

I’m gonna try this reasoning the next time I can’t convince a boss to give me a raise:

After review of CEO compensation of other publicly-traded newspaper companies, the ECC concluded that Ms. Junck’s compensation, including equity-based compensation, is substantially below that of her peers in the newspaper industry. …The ECC believes that the Company’s stockholders will benefit from linking Ms. Junck’s compensation to appreciation in the value of the Company’s common stock.

Just hours after Junck received her latest bonus, she and her associateslaid off four editors at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after the journalists finished their Thursday shifts.

On the one hand, it’s Lee stock, so it’s not like it’ll be worth a ton of money once she’s done with the company.

On the other, since when is it an argument that would pass muster with playground children that everybody else in the fail club known as “newspaper company CEOs” is making more money, you deserve more?

I swear if you shitcanned every single member of that group, you would immediately have about a billion dollars for journalism and journalists, and nobody would really even notice they were gone.

A.

Jul 31 2012
Athenae, So Called Liberal Media

A Jury of Her Peers

I’m gonna try this reasoning the next time I can’t convince a boss to give me a raise:

After review of CEO compensation of other publicly-traded newspaper companies, the ECC concluded that Ms. Junck’s compensation, including equity-based compensation, is substantially below that of her peers in the newspaper industry. …The ECC believes that the Company’s stockholders will benefit from linking Ms. Junck’s compensation to appreciation in the value of the Company’s common stock.

Just hours after Junck received her latest bonus, she and her associates laid off four editors at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after the journalists finished their Thursday shifts.

On the one hand, it’s Lee stock, so it’s not like it’ll be worth a ton of money once she’s done with the company.

On the other, since when is it an argument that would pass muster with playground children that everybody else in the fail club known as “newspaper company CEOs” is making more money, you deserve more?

I swear if you shitcanned every single member of that group, you would immediately have about a billion dollars for journalism and journalists, and nobody would really even notice they were gone.

A.

Jul 30 2012
8 Comments
Athenae, Faith, Religion

Avoidance

So some members of a Baptist church came to the pastor and said, we heard you’re marrying some black folks in here and we’re not okay with that.

All due respect, my children, the pastor replied, that you are freaked out by non-white peoples is not Jesus’s major problem at the moment. Nor is it mine. I am sorry, but you are going to have to suck it up and just … I don’t know, not come to the wedding? Were you even invited? Then what the heck do you care? Go home, watch Storage Wars and smoke marijuana like normal people do on Saturdays.

Except not:

Insiders say five or six members went to the Rev. Stan Weatherford after seeing the couple’s wedding rehearsal the Thursday night before their Saturday wedding.

The church pastor said he was surprised by the reaction of some church members.

“I didn’t want to have a controversy within the church, and I didn’t want a controversy to affect the wedding of Charles and Te’Andrea. I wanted to make sure their wedding day was a special day,” Weatherford told WLBT-Channel 3.

Charles Wilson said it was a huge disappointment that he and his wife couldn’t get married at the church they attended because of the color of their skin.

“I feel like it was blatant racial discrimination,” Wilson said Friday.

The 150-year-old church hasn’t had any black couples married there in modern times. Weatherford married the couple but moved the ceremony to a nearby church.

He didn’t want to have a controversy, so he appeased the loudest, angriest people in the room, and told the couple who wanted to get married that they’d have to move so that … I don’t get exactly what they were hurting. He didn’t want to have a controversy. Well, he’s sure got one now, and it’s well deserved.

I like the line about how it was the rehearsal that got the bigots upset, because the bride and her family had been involved with the church for a while and the groom had been attending. So a couple of black people in the congregation on Sundays was okay, but a whole bunch of ’em? Like more than three? Standing together? Clearly that’s an invasion of some sort and we can’t have that.

And the comments are full of “this isn’t the whole church, some of us like black people, etc” which I’m sure is also true. The defending your own Something about that, though: The five or six people who asked him to get the black couple out of sight of their white eyeballs are assholes, but there are always assholes in the world. All the bigots will not eventually die out. It will never happen. They don’t win when they act like bigots, they win when nice-enough well-meaning people who are supposed to be better than this decide that in order to keep the bigots quiet, we all should pretend to agree with them.

In which case not only is the controversy not avoided, but nobody learns anything and nobody grows one bit. You can avoid and avoid and avoid, and keep shrinking the world down so that eventually it’s just a ten-by-ten room with you and your fellow racists, but that’s notliving, people, that’s not life. In a church of all places you should be throwing the doors wide, letting in as many people as possible, especially the ones who aren’t familiar to you and the ones who make you nervous and the ones you aren’t sure you’re gonna like.

That’s the only way any of this gets better. I can sit in my house with my fellow white people and think about how I need to be less of a racist, but I’m not gonna be less of a racist unless I get out there and get to know a lot more people and start ACTING LIKE LESS OF A RACIST. This pastor could have done quite a job by asking people who objected to the wedding to attend it, or watch the video later (admitting creepy bigoted busybodies to your wedding not being a thing many people want to do, shockingly) or really anything else up to and including telling these few people who have nothing more pressing to worry about to shut the holy hell up.

That wouldn’t have avoided controversy, certainly. Last I checked, though, the head of that particular religion got himself nailed to a tree for making a scene in public about the treatment of the downtrodden. Maybe he should have just moved somewhere else.

A.

Jul 30 2012
4 Comments
Athenae, So Called Liberal Media

Or, You Know, There’s Journalism

Is Newsweek run by doofi who haven’t had an original political thought in three decades?

Why yes, it is:

“You can see the editorial thought process at work. What kind of cover story could create the sort of pop that the classic ‘Wimp Factor’ cover did? Then inspiration struck: How about another ‘Wimp Factor’ cover?” —Jonathan Chait

Look, my sympathy for Mitt Romney is pretty minimal. In fact, my sympathy for anyone running for national office who is being unfairly treated by our idiot media is pretty minimal. Maybe 25 years ago you could have had some expectation of serious debate here, but I think the Iraq war run-up weighed down that particular sack of kittens and flung it into Lake Erie.

This is crap, though. This serves nobody. This is about nothing: Is Mitt Romney a pussy? Is he too rich? Too insecure? Not insecure enough? Deep down, is he really a good guy? Does he love his wife? Does he “love” his wife? Is he secretly into furries? WHO THE FUCK CARES?

Would Mitt Romney, as president, put into place policies that would punish me and mine for living the lives we live? On taxes, on social issues, on education, on health care? Absolutely. Tell me about that, put that in 48-point double-burn on page one.

I suppose, though, that that isn’t quite as snappy as one about how many grizzlies Mitt Romney could fend off using just his bare hands, or whatever the fuck this is about.

A.

Jul 30 2012
4 Comments
Adrastos, Sports

Coach Big Brother

Sean-payton-do-your-job

As you can see, Sean Payton may be suspended but he’s watching the Saints from on high at their Metry practice facility. I’m not sure if this is old style Soviet or current North Korean but he looks like a stern albeit benevolent leader. Perhaps, they’ll implant digital cameras in his eyes at some point when people get used to the poster. Me, I’m proud of them for skipping the exclamation point.

For some more takes on Comrade Sean check out Grandmaster Wang and Jeffrey.You have to scroll through the posts for the latter, the yellow blog’s linking system is a nightmare, which means it could be operated out of Belarus or something. Holy yellow peril, Batman.

Jul 30 2012
4 Comments
Adrastos, Sports

Coach Big Brother

Sean-payton-do-your-job

As you can see, Sean Payton may be suspended but he’s watching the Saints from on high at their Metry practice facility. I’m not sure if this is old style Soviet or current North Korean but he looks like a stern albeit benevolent leader. Perhaps, they’ll implant digital cameras in his eyes at some point when people get used to the poster. Me, I’m proud of them for skipping the exclamation point.

For some more takes on Comrade Sean check outGrandmaster Wang andJeffrey.You have to scroll through the posts for the latter, the yellow blog’s linking system is a nightmare, which means it could be operated out of Belarus or something. Holy yellow peril, Batman.

Jul 30 2012
10 Comments
Stupid Republican Tricks, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Putrid Potpourri edition

Morning everyone – it’s that time again – we need to bring some of the aging drums of creepy up from the back and dispose of them.

Let’s get the air scrubbers cranked up, because our first blast from the recent past is –

ICE, ICE, baby!

Homeland Security suspends immigration agreements with Ariz. police
The Washington Times ^ | June 25,2012 | By Stephen Dinan

Posted on Monday, June 25, 2012 1:31:56 PM byHojczyk

The Obama administration said Monday it is suspending existing agreements with Arizona police over enforcement of federal immigration laws, and said it has issued a directive telling federal authorities to decline many of the calls reporting illegal immigrants that the Homeland Security Department may get from Arizona police.

Administration officials, speaking on condition they not be named, told reporters they expect to see an increase in the number of calls they get from Arizona police — but that won’t change President Obama’s decision to limit whom the government actually tries to detain and deport.

“We will not be issuing detainers on individuals unless they clearly meet our defined priorities,” one official said in a telephone briefing.

The official said that despite the increased number of calls, which presumably means more illegal immigrants being reported, the Homeland Security Department is unlikely to detain a significantly higher number of people and won’t be boosting personnel to handle the new calls.

1 posted on Monday, June 25, 2012 1:32:00 PM byHojczyk
To: Hojczyk

Direct violation of the oath of office on the part of every cabinet member and Obama himself.

Every one of them should be arrested.

2 posted on Monday, June 25, 2012 1:33:41 PM byrarestia (It’s time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
I’ve got a great idea – you should make a Citizen’s Arrest! Do that, and let me know how it comes out – by mail, not in person.

To: rarestia

IMPEACH.

7 posted on Monday, June 25, 2012 1:42:19 PM byJuly4 (Remember the price paid for your freedom.)

And how did that work out for you mental defectives thelast time you tried it (in 1998)?
Clinton_approval_rating
Knock yourselves out.

To:Hojczyk

Time for the state to go rogue.

Reminds me of an old joke that I’ll rework for this situation:

A Californian, an Arizonan, and a Mexican national are walking along the beach at Padre island, and discover a half-buried oil lamp. One quick rub later, a Djinn appears and grants them each one wish.

The Mexican national says: “I wish to be with my family, and for my villiage to have sufficient food and money for no one to ever have to go away to work again.

*BOOM* – he disappears. “Wish granted” says the Djinn.

The Arizonan is next. He says: “I’m tired of all these illegals trying to come into my state – I want a wall around it to stop all the wetbacks out and keep Real Americans like me in.

*BOOM* – he disappears. “Wish granted” says the Djinn.

The Californian gets a thoughtful look on his face and says to the Djinn: “Tell me about that wall, please.”

The Djinn says: “It is a hundred feet high and thirty feet thick, and is completely impregnable!”

The Californian smiles, and says: “OK. Fill it with water.”

…immigrant-rights groups saying they led to abuses…

So sue…where are the records of abuse?

9 posted on Monday, June 25, 2012 1:42:59 PM byEBH (Obama took away your American Dreams and replaced them with “Dreams from My (his) Father”.)

To: gunner03

At what point will the states tell the feds to play in the street.The states need to say “fine we will not send you any more tax revenue”. It’s getting close to picking which side you are on.

21 posted on Monday, June 25, 2012 1:57:23 PM byLets Roll NOW (A baby isn’t a punishment, Obama is)

Arizona
Federal spending received for every tax dollar paid: $1.46
Federal spending received for every tax dollar paid per capita: $2.0
Tear your ass.

To: Hojczyk

Secession anyone???

50 posted on Monday, June 25, 2012 2:23:28 PM byeak3

And how well didthat work out for you thimble-headed gherkins the last time you tried it?
And these chuckleheads accuse other people of Treason…

To: Hojczyk

Under what conditions can the gov declare Martial law and call out the national guard?

I can answer that one for you – the U.S Army – when a Governor declares Secession.

…Just looking toward the future.

93 posted on Monday, June 25, 2012 4:15:17 PM byhoosiermama ( Obama: ” born in Kenya.”.. he’s lying now or then?)

No, you’re looking toward the past – 1861, to be exact.
More random tomfoolery after the Black Beast of AAARRRGGHHHHHHHH…

Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , ,
Jul 29 2012
Athenae, Television

I Was The Bully: The Newsroom Thread

21.58 copy

Yes. Yes you were. But that’s the thing. You’re always the bully. And you’re always the victim. And you’re always trying to navigate a world that doesn’t make any sense at all, because if the world isn’t monstrous, if the world makes sense, then why did this have to happen to you?

Something like that marks you, and you spend your life negotiating with it. That doesn’t make you good or bad, or the person who did that to you good or bad. It makes you alive, and just like everyone else. I’m writing a novel about this now, about how we’re all getting over something.

Spoilers, comparisons to comic book movies, and a conversation with Mr. A about sexism, inside. This one cut pretty deep.

Continue reading →

Jul 29 2012
Athenae, Television

I Was The Bully: The Newsroom Thread

21.58 copy

Yes. Yes you were. But that’s the thing. You’re always the bully. And you’re always the victim. And you’re always trying to navigate a world that doesn’t make any sense at all, because if the world isn’t monstrous, if the world makes sense, then why did this have to happen to you?

Something like that marks you, and you spend your life negotiating with it. That doesn’t make you good or bad, or the person who did that to you good or bad. It makes you alive, and just like everyone else. I’m writing a novel about this now, about how we’re all getting over something.

Spoilers, comparisons to comic book movies, and a conversation with Mr. A about sexism, inside. This one cut pretty deep.

Continue reading →

Jul 29 2012
3 Comments
Athenae, Food and Drink, Immoral Values

War on Christmas in July: The Battle of Chick-fil-A

There are other ways to do this:

“The alderman has the ideological support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel,” the Tribune reports.

“‘Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values,’ the mayor said in a statement when asked about Moreno’s decision.”

I’m sorry, I didn’t get my Chicago Values handout, but if I remember correctly they have something to do with “What’s in it for me?”

More importantly, this sets a dangerous precedent: If your ideological belief isn’t shared by Joe Moreno, forget about building a business in the 1st Ward.

And if the next alderman is against gay marriage and you’re for it, the next alderman will have every right to reject your business too.

Agreed. It’s a pretty clear free speech issue: You cannot deny them access to public services for which they clearly qualify based on the repulsive political stances of their higher-ups, especially if you are fucking dumb enough to say that that’s the reason for your denial in the first place. Get off my side, assholes. Stop helping if this is the only way you can think of to do it.

Moreover, this entire Chick-fil-A THING is on my last goddamn nerve, because like the War on Christmas before it, like the persecuted people who want to make a show out of praying in schoool, it’s mobilized the dumbest people on the planet in defense of something that needs no defending. Here comes Sarah Palin, and this asshole, and Mike Huckabee, and half a dozen fuckwads I’ve defriended on Facebook and blocked on Twitter, talking about how a fast-food chain is so horribly victimized and we need to stand up for them.

I don’t care how horribly bigoted the Chick-fil-A folks get; they’re really probably not going to go broke anytime soon. Meanwhle there is war, famine, pestilence, death, and oh by the way ACTUAL religious persecution happening, and you could not pay any of the talk-show bleaters all up in arms about the fucking chicken nuggets to gve a shit. There are a lot of powerless people in the world getting picked on for their politics and none of them own a fast-food chain.

It’s easy to be in favor of fried chicken! It’s easy to love Christmas, too, even though every December we go through some stupid kabuki thing where we judge who loves Christmas and how those filthy atheist whores are trying to take it away. And it drives me wild seeing people who should know better, like Rahm and his aldermen, playing into that, and mistaking the nuggets for the meal, and giving these perpetually angry wingnuts precisely what they want: An excuse to hold a rally in favor of something that doesn’t matter at all.

A.

Jul 29 2012
4 Comments
Current Affairs, Jude

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


Picture via WWL.com

Jesus, this sucks. The Hubig’s Pie factory burned to the ground today.

What a pisser.

Jul 29 2012
1 Comment
Adrastos, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks

Mitt’s bullshit in a china shop tour

7650320466_2d8cd3b8e2_o-460

Leave it to Mitt Romney to screw up a ceremonial visit to the UK. He has even made two of the poshest Tories angry: both Cameron and Boris Johnson have taken shots at him and the London Mayor even mocked him publicly:

The Boris Johnson thing is particularly funny because he is legendary for his gaffes. He’s kind of like Bertie Wooster with Donald Trump’s hair; only without Bertie’s dim sweetness. What ho, Boris. What ho, Willard. I wonder what Bingo Little is up to nowadays…

The Romney team, in the person of Governor PBJ, has pushed back and said that they don’t give a shit about what them consarn furriners think. But, of course, Mittbot has attacked Obama for harming America’s good name abroad. Blah, blah, blah. So, it’s just another flip flop. I get dizzy just thinking about them…

It astonishes me that any GOP nominee could piss off the Tories. They have longstanding ties to the Republican party just like Labour and the Dems. Speaking of Labour, Mitt seemed to have trouble remembering Ed Miliband’s name and kept calling him Mr. Leader. It was a blown opportunity for Romney to appear human since Miliband is known to be as stiff and lacking in a common touch as the Mittster himself. Birds of a feather shit in one another’s nest or something like that. At least Mitt didn’t call him Mr. Socialist Left Wing Leader or Red Ed. Of course, to say the latter he’d have to know his name. Never mind.

This whole episode illustrates the folly of a corporate CEO type running for President. Romney is used to issuing orders and having them followed. He treats everyone like an employee and always, always knows best. In the unlikely event he ever gets to the White House, he’ll sit there in utter frustration because only his staff and, perhaps, Refalca the dressage horse, will leap when he beckons.

The Guardian has an hilarious compendiumof all the walking diplomatic incident’s gaffes; including a grading scale. I give it 10 out of 10…

Jul 29 2012
3 Comments
Current Affairs, Doc

Race to the bottom of Colorado Shooting coverage

At this point of the media frenzy surrounding the Aurora shootings, the victims have become known to us, the nature of this crime has been known to us and the overall breakdown of what happened before, during and after the crime has become known to us. Vigils have been held, family members continue to grieve and we continue to ponder what will come next.

Unfortunately, if you have ever seen one of these things unfold before, you know what comes next from a media perspective.

Scraping the barrel for a new angle, a new insight, a new scrap of information of any kind. We know all about the living and those who died at the hands of this guy, so now we need to know all about him.

So who is James Holmes?

Was this guy a Tea Party member? Was he a Democrat? No on both accounts, but media outlets had no problem putting that out there, as if how he voted reflected on anything. (Hey, he was a hell of a shot for a Democrat! = FAIL)

Did this guy have a conversation with guards regarding the movie’s outcome?According to the NY Daily News, he did, leading people to breathlessly speculate as to his Batman fetish.

Did Holmes frequent prostitutes and then rate them on a message board?TMZ says so, which a) means it’s probably true and b) means you shouldn’t give a shit.

Did Batman teach him to kill?It didn’t take some people long to hang onto that angle, despite the one comic historian who kept saying, “Look, this is so far out there that even Holmes probably thinks you’re nuts.” I wonder if he saw the one “My Little Pony” where Fluttershy gets all mean in the labyrinth, leading to some pony-on-pony violence.

I also found out that several people have had to rethink Twitter after making the oh-so-smart move of tweeting that they thought Carrot Top’s Evil Twin was “hot.”

Even that felonious lust wasn’t enough to reach the top of the “are you fucking kidding me?” list I was forming as I flipped through the articles on Holmes.

Here’s your weekly winner: The media is humanizing James Holmes because he’s white.

I think I read this column about six times, each time looking for “the smoking gun” that showed how the media was treating this guy with a gentle touch because of his general honky-ness.

(Side note: I know this is a student newspaper. I also do my best to avoid ripping student journalists. However, sometimes, it’s impossible to ignore something, much like when a stripper decides to park her ass in your face.)

Here are some of the “humanizing” moments the media has put forth, according to this column:

Many articles described him as a shy and hard-working student.

They elaborated on the Ph.D. research project he was involved in and had quotes from peers who were shocked by his behavior.

The LA Times had a tagline that read, “Was James E. Holmes a brilliant loner? A nice guy with circles of friends? A stubborn near-dropout? …”

Look back at the coverage of pretty much anyone who has done this kind of action and you’ll find that most of this is standard fare stuff. Who was this guy? What did people who know him think about him? Did they see this coming?

The author makes a lame attempt to figure out how the media treats people of color who do things like this, only to find that, strangely, an unprovoked mass shooting seems to be one of those things that tends to shade toward the more pale among us. To try to parallel this, then, the writer provides this:

In a recent article, it was reported that Rudy Eugene was not high on bath salts, and the only drug found in his system was marijuana.

However, that hasn’t stopped the media from calling him the Highway Cannibal, despite only having chewed off a man’s face and not having ingested it.

Even after the new evidence in the case, Eugene has not had the privilege of being called “mentally unstable.”

What’s the main difference between Holmes and Eugene?

Bluntly put, Holmes is a white man while Eugene is a black man.

Or one is shooting up a theater which is tragic, but has some historical parallels while the other is EATING A GUY’S FUCKING FACE IN PUBLIC FOR NO REAL REASON.

Oddly enough, this was the first “cannibal” reference I’d heard about this guy. I’d look it up, but there is no citation of any kind as to where this came from. In addition, I’ve heard him called the start of the zombie apocalypse and believe me, zombies will bite your face off. Eating it might or might not be involved, but either way, it’s fucking insane.

If you want a better look at race and mass murder, take a peek at Carl Robert Brown and James Edward Pough. Two guys, one white, one black, who were consecutively responsible for the worst random shooting spree in Florida several decades ago.

The media reported on both of these guys fairly extensively, which is how we learned that Brown taught junior high until he had a mental breakdown.

He was often known as someone angry about racial issues and someone who saw America sliding into the Bell Jar.

On Aug. 19, 1982, after complaining to a worker at a metal welding shop that the work they did on his bicycle’s new motor was shoddy, Brown declared that he was leaving, but would come back to kill everyone there. He returned the next day with two newly purchased guns and killed eight people while injuring three others.

Extensive writing by the Miami Herald shortly after his rampage revealed that he had been going slowly mad for months. His racism and his anger toward others was reported on as well. His principal had him seek psychiatric help and noted after the fact, he sort of saw this coming.

His neighbors saw him shooting a pellet gun at stuff and picking grapefruits in his underwear prior to the shooting.

Pough, known as “Pop” to his friends, was described in media stories as being a reliable worker, who was never late and was one of the best at whatever labor he was doing.

Neighbors described him as being a quiet and nice man who kept to himself. He was known to fits anger when dealing with money. Relatives called him a recluse and said he kept mostly to himself.

He had an affinity for his car, which had been repossessed by the GMAC finance division when he couldn’t make payments on it any more. On the morning of June 18, 1990, Pough went to GMAC with an M1 Carbine and a .38 pistol and began killing people. He killed nine and injured four others. The day before, he had apparently killed a pimp and a prostitute, shooting both of them to death.

Go through the coverage of these people and you’ll find two things: 1) the only mention of race is that it was weird that Pough did this, as most of these multiple shooting whack jobs are white and unemployed and 2) the coverage is almost a perfect overlay of what’s being done with James Holmes.

Were there any indications that he was going to crack?

What was he like before the shooting?

What did people think of him?

None of this stuff is “humanizing” but instead informative. I don’t think, “Aww… Holmes was a Ph.D. candidate! As a doc, I totally feel for him.” or “Hey, this guy liked hookers! Big ups!” He is who he is and he was who he was.

Taking this issue and making it about race makes no sense.

The victims weren’t targeted for their race.

The assailant hasn’t made any statement involving race.

Let’s chalk this guy up to nuts and save our discussions of racism for a time and place where they might actually apply.

It’s too serious of a topic to apply to this Joker.

Jul 29 2012
1 Comment
Adrastos, Sunday Morning Video, Television

Sunday Morning Video: The Ring Of Wax

Here’s an episode of the camp classic Batman teevee series with the shamelessly hammy Frank Gorshin as the Riddler:

Jul 29 2012
3 Comments
Athenae, Food and Drink, Immoral Values

War on Christmas in July: The Battle of Chick-fil-A

There are other ways to do this:

“The alderman has the ideological support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel,” theTribune reports.

“‘Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values,’ the mayor said in a statement when asked about Moreno’s decision.”

I’m sorry, I didn’t get my Chicago Values handout, but if I remember correctly they have something to do with “What’s in it for me?”

More importantly, this sets a dangerous precedent: If your ideological belief isn’t shared by Joe Moreno, forget about building a business in the 1st Ward.

And if the next alderman is against gay marriage and you’re for it, the next alderman will have every right to reject your business too.

Agreed. It’s a pretty clear free speech issue: You cannot deny them access to public services for which they clearly qualify based on the repulsive political stances of their higher-ups, especially if you are fucking dumb enough to say that that’s the reason for your denial in the first place. Get off my side, assholes. Stop helping if this is the only way you can think of to do it.

Moreover, this entire Chick-fil-A THING is on my last goddamn nerve, because like the War on Christmas before it, like the persecuted people who want to make a show out of praying in schoool, it’s mobilized the dumbest people on the planet in defense of something that needs no defending. Here comesSarah Palin, and thisasshole, andMike Huckabee, and half a dozen fuckwads I’ve defriended on Facebook and blocked on Twitter, talking about how a fast-food chain is so horribly victimized and we need to stand up for them.

I don’t care how horribly bigoted the Chick-fil-A folks get; they’re really probably not going to go broke anytime soon. Meanwhle there is war, famine, pestilence, death, and oh by the way ACTUAL religious persecution happening, and you could not pay any of the talk-show bleaters all up in arms about the fucking chicken nuggets to gve a shit. There are a lot of powerless people in the world getting picked on for their politics and none of them own a fast-food chain.

It’s easy to be in favor of fried chicken! It’s easy to love Christmas, too, even though every December we go through some stupid kabuki thing where we judge who loves Christmas and how those filthy atheist whores are trying to take it away. And it drives me wild seeing people who should know better, like Rahm and his aldermen, playing into that, and mistaking the nuggets for the meal, and giving these perpetually angry wingnuts precisely what they want: An excuse to hold a rally in favor of something that doesn’t matter at all.

A.

Jul 29 2012
1 Comment
Adrastos, Television

Sunday Morning Video: The Ring Of Wax

Here’s an episode of the camp classic Batman teevee series with the shamelessly hammy Frank Gorshin as the Riddler:

Jul 28 2012
7 Comments
Athenae, Sports

Weekend Question Thread

What Olympic sport are you watching?

I swear I thought the Mary Poppins vs. Voldemort thing was a JOKE, that it wasway too awesome to actually happen.

A.

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