|
|
|
Ann Coulter's latest article
Everyone who knows me also knows that I'm not exactly a fan of Ann Coulter, but I think she hit the nail on the head with this one.
REPUBLICANS, BLOGGERS AND GAYS, OH MY!
by Ann Coulter
February 23, 2005
In response to the public disgrace and ruin of New York Times editor Howell Raines, CBS anchor Dan Rather and CNN news director Eason Jordan, liberals are directing their fury at the blogs. Once derided as people sitting around their living rooms in pajamas, now obscure writers for unknown Web sites are coming under more intensive background checks than CIA agents.
The heretofore-unknown Jeff Gannon of the heretofore-unknown "Talon News" service was caught red-handed asking friendly questions at a White House press briefing. Now the media is hot on the trail of a gay escort service that Gannon may have run some years ago. Are we supposed to like gay people now, or hate them? Is there a Web site where I can go to and find out how the Democrats want me to feel about gay people on a moment-to-moment basis?
Liberals keep rolling out a scrolling series of attacks on Gannon for their Two Minutes Hate, but all their other charges against him fall apart after three seconds of scrutiny. Gannon's only offense is that he may be gay.
First, liberals claimed Gannon was a White House plant who received a press pass so that he could ask softball questions — a perk reserved for New York Times reporters during the Clinton years. Their proof was that while "real" journalists (like Jayson Blair) were being denied press passes, Gannon had one, even though he writes for a Web site that no one has ever heard of — but still big enough to be a target of liberal hatred! (By the way, if writing for a news organization with no viewers is grounds for being denied a press pass, why do MSNBC reporters have them?)
On the op-ed page of The New York Times, Maureen Dowd openly lied about the press pass, saying: "I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the 'Barberini Faun' is credentialed?"
Press passes can't be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president. Still, it would be suspicious if Dowd were denied a press pass while someone from "Talon News" got one, even if he is a better reporter.
But Dowd was talking about two different passes without telling her readers (a process now known in journalism schools as "Dowdification"). Gannon didn't have a permanent pass; he had only a daily pass. Almost anyone can get a daily pass — even famed Times fantasist Maureen Dowd could have gotten one of those. A daily pass and a permanent pass are altogether different animals. The entire linchpin of Dowd's column was a lie. (And I'm sure the Times' public editor will get right on Dowd's deception.)
Finally, liberals expressed shock and dismay that Gannon's real name is "James Guckert." On MSNBC's "Hardball," Chris Matthews introduced the Gannon scandal this way: "Coming up, how did a fake news reporter from a right-wing Web site get inside the White House press briefings and presidential news conferences?"
Reporter David Shuster then gave a report on "the phony alias Guckert used to play journalist" — as opposed to the real name Shuster uses to play journalist. (You can tell Schuster is a crackerjack journalist because he uses phrases like "phony alias.") With all the subtlety of a gay-bashing skinhead, Matthews spent the rest of the segment seeing how many times he could smear Gannon by mentioning "HotMilitaryStuds.com" and laughing.
Any day now, Matthews will devote entire shows to exposing Larry Zeigler, Gerald Riviera and Michael Weiner — aka Larry King, Geraldo Rivera and Matthews' former MSNBC colleague Michael Savage. As a newspaper reporter, Wolf Blitzer has written under the names Ze'ev Blitzer and Ze'ev Barak. The greatest essayist of modern times was Eric Blair, aka George Orwell. The worst essayist of modern times is "TRB" of The New Republic.
Air America radio host and "Nanny" impersonator "Randi Rhodes" goes by a fake name, and she won't even tell people what her real last name is. (She says for "privacy reasons." That name must be a real doozy.) As Insideradio.com describes Rhodes, she refuses "to withhold anything from her listeners" and says conservatives "are less likely to share such things." How about sharing your name, Randi? We promise not to laugh.
Democrats in Congress actually demanded that an independent prosecutor investigate how Gannon got into White House press conferences while writing under an invented name. How did Gary Hartpence, Billy Blythe and John Kohn (Gary Hart, Bill Clinton and John Kerry) run for president under invented names? Admittedly, these men were not reporters for the prestigious "Talon News" service; they were merely Democrats running for president.
Liberals keep telling us the media isn't liberal, but in order to retaliate for the decimation of major news organizations like The New York Times, CBS News and CNN, all they can do is produce the scalp of an obscure writer for an unknown conservative Web page. And unlike Raines, Rather and Jordan, they can't even get Gannon for incompetence on the job. (Also unlike Raines, Rather and Jordan, Gannon has appeared on TV and given a series of creditable interviews in his own defense, proving our gays are more macho than their straights.)
Gannon didn't write about gays. No "hypocrisy" is being exposed. Liberals' hateful, frothing-at-the-mouth campaign against Gannon consists solely of their claim that he is gay.
Ward Churchill - plagerist?
Hmmm
In reference to my previous post, it looks like JP2 is back in the hospital again, and is undergoing a tracheotomy. According to the article, the Pope appears to be suffering from bacterial pneumonia. For someone his age, and with his numerous health problems, this can be a very dangerous thing. I may not agree with his religious beliefs, but, nevertheless, I wish him well.
Religious question
Since it's becoming increasingly obvious that John Paul II is clearly no longer capable of performing his papal duties, is there a precedent for removing a pope?
Geeky fun
Hi, my name is Darth Apathy, and, yes, I'm a geek. I finally broke down yesterday and installed Firefox on my linux box. I've had Firefox on my Windows box for ages, but was never overly impressed with it. It had some good features, but it never performed to the level of Avant. On linux, however, Firefox really shines, vastly outperforming Konqueror in all aspects.
Wha...?
Florida boy accused of assault with rubber band
13-year-old suspended 10 days after confrontation with teacher
A 13-year-old student in Orange County, Fla., was suspended for 10 days and could be banned from school over an alleged assault with a rubber band, according to a WKMG Local 6 News report.
Robert Gomez, a seventh-grader at Liberty Middle School, said he picked up a rubber band at school and slipped it on his wrist.
Gomez said when his science teacher demanded the rubber band, the student said he tossed it on her desk.
After the incident, Gomez received a 10-day suspension for threatening his teacher with what administrators say was a weapon, Local 6 News reported.
"They said if he would have aimed it a little more and he would have gotten it closer to her face he would have hit her in the eye," mother Jenette Rojas said.
Rojas said she was shocked to learn that her son was being punished for a Level 4 offense -- the highest Level at the school. Other violations that also receive level 4 punishment include arson, assault and battery, bomb threats and explosives, according to the Code of Student Conduct.
The district said a Level 4 offense includes the use of any object or instrument used to make a threat or inflict harm, including a rubber band.
Rojas plans to fight the ruling but her son still faces expulsion.
"It's ridiculous, it's a rubber band," Rojas said.
The school's principal could not comment because the case is still under investigation.
A district spokesman said there is still a series of meetings the district will have before Gomez is officially expelled.
If rubber bands are considered weapons, then I should be locked up for the rest of my natural life for some of the things I did as a child - especially considering the rubber band gatling gun I made in my 6th grade woodshop class.
Update
I just got off the phone with Vulture 6, who's at the hospital with the Vulturette following an accident on Sunday. Tanya got out of surgery at 3am this morning, and she's doing well. Her femur was pretty much shattered right above her knee. There were ten large bone fragments and numerous smaller fragments that had to be repaired. She now has several pins holding the bones together, and a steel plate running up the length of her femur. Brian over at Memento Moron and I will try to post updates as we get them.
Feminists are such nice people
Idaho Teen Scalped After Slight
By REBECCA BOONE, Associated Press Writer
BOISE, Idaho - A 16-year-old Idaho girl was tied up and scalped by an older woman in an attack motivated by revenge, police said.
Authorities are searching for Marianne Dahle, 26, who was visiting Kirkham Hot Springs in central Idaho Jan. 18 with the girl and a friend when Dahle allegedly tied the girl up and cut away the entire crown and back portion of her scalp.
A felony arrest warrant accuses Dahle of aggravated battery, though she has not been formally charged.
"When I say this gal was scalped, she was truly scalped," said Boise County Chief Deputy Bill Braddock. "The top of her head, her hair, was completely cut off. The motive, as near as we've been told by witnesses, was retaliation for acting in a way that the adult perceived as being offensive to women as a gender."
What will these feminists think of next?
This day in history
February 9, 1971, a date that will live in infamy, I was brought kicking and screaming into this world. And it's gone downhill every year since then.
Mr. Kerry, you are a jerk.
Mr. Kerry, you are a jerk.
by Pat Sajak:
I am about to call someone a name.
This is not a decision I've reached lightly. Name-calling is not in my nature. True, I have cast more than my share of aspersions on others, but I have tried to do it with humor, or, even when I was seriously upset, I tried to modulate my tone.
This is not to say that I don't get angry, but I'm not a screamer. I tend to sulk and plot revenge. I'm sure there must have been times when, as a child, I called someone "stupid" or "ugly" or "fat" or some of the other hateful things that children often say, though I don't remember specific instances.
And, yet, I'm about to call someone a name.
I've always been interested in politics, a rough-and-tumble field where name-calling is not unusual. I enjoy reading and writing about politics, and I have some strong opinions, some of which I've shared on this page. However, I try to keep my politics in context. I discuss the subject here, or at overtly political venues. My quarrel with celebrities and politics is not that they voice opinions, but that they often foist those opinions on others in inappropriate settings. I've had some tough things to say about people when I've spoken at some of these events, but, again, I don't think I've ever just flat-out called someone a name.
Until now.
This sudden shift in my policy is a result of the Iraqi elections. I'm not sure how anyone could look at the lines of voters who, quite literally, risked life and limb to exercise a right many Americans tend to take for granted even without terrorist threats and suicide bombers. I don't care what your opinions of George W. Bush, the Iraq War or the War on Terror might be, this was, on a strictly human level, a moving event for a region of the world where democracies are not exactly flourishing.
Every voter in those lines was, in ways big and small, a hero, and should be admired and supported. How could anyone look at voters dancing in the streets and proudly holding up their blue fingers to indicate what they had so bravely done, and not be moved? It seems to me that Sunday was not the time to attempt to minimize or trivialize what millions of Iraqis did that day. That could wait at least 24 hours, couldn't it?
Enter Massachusetts Senator and former Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry. Here's a man who should know something about heroics, as he reminded us a thousand or so times during the campaign. On the very day Iraqis were voting, most of them for the first time in their lives, here's some of what Kerry had to say on NBC's "Meet the Press": "It is significant that there is a vote in Iraq, but ... no one in the United States should try to overhype this election. This election is a sort of demarcation point, and what really counts now is the effort to have a legitimate political reconciliation, and it's going to take a massive diplomatic effort and a much more significant outreach to the international community than this administration has been willing to engage in. Absent that, we will not be successful in Iraq,"
More Kerry: "It's hard to say that something is legitimate when a whole portion of the country can't vote and doesn't vote." (Sound familiar?)
What a marvelous way to pay tribute to those trying to embrace democracy! I know he's bitter, and I know he's not going to say anything that would appear to endorse any of President Bush's policies, but couldn't it have waited a day? Or couldn't he have at least included a kind word of encouragement or congratulations to the millions of Iraqi citizens who voted before he began to belittle the process and the turnout?
His dour demeanor on "Meet the Press" and in another interview Sunday contrasted sharply with images coming from Iraq, and his comments sounded small and petty. You would expect something more from a man who, less than three months ago, lost a race for the Presidency of the United States. It was a despicable performance. So now it's time for me to get this off my chest.
Mr. Kerry, you are a jerk.
There. I feel better.
Pat Sajak
Gmail
I have a boatload of Gmail invites. If you want one email me.
Warning: SciFi Geekiness Below
QotD
I ran across this little gem while surfing a message board. Someone on that board had it as his signature, and I liked it well enough that it has become my Quote of the Day.
"Welfare is to charity what rape is to sex."
"GI" Or "GI Joe?"
Hat tip to Drudge
Iraqi insurgents have claimed that they have captured an American soldier, and are threatening to behead him if Iraqi prisoners aren't released. Here's the picture they have released:
But wait! There's more, as they say. Let's look at this picture and see if it looks familiar:
|
|
Who Links Here
|
