October 20, 2009

Tin Foil Hat Madness

As a longtime fan of comic books (husband-dude here) I've watched with some dismay as comic books have gone from subversive to outright deranged. The worst part is watching entertainment become increasingly politicized in every medium: Films, books, comic books, music. Just an outright avalanche of crap.

On the increasingly not so cool website aintitcool.com the following review for an independent comic called "The Last Days of American Crime" descends into outright lunacy. The story involves a near future where... get this... a Republican gets his hand on a mind control ray and uses it to alter everyone's pattern of thinking.

Here's the tin foil thinking behind this piece of fluff:

"I did think in terms of “What if some neo-con ended up with this thing? There are a lot of ethical implications to mind control. It’s obviously not something anyone should have. 'It sort of spun out from that, I was thinking “Well, after 9/11 we gave up -- or had taken from us -- all our personal freedoms.' "

Gosh, we certainly did lose a lot of personal freedoms after 9/11. Habeus corpus suspended, assembly restricted, citizens sent to concentration camps, guns taken away, books burned, etc. I remember those dark days well.

This passes for normal... On the bright side, little kids aren't reading this nonsense as comic books have become overpriced and out of reach of a generation more interested in video games. Only comic book guys a la the Simpson's would waste their time putting such fine reading material in plastic slipcovers.

The real complaint is this. I go to sites such as aintitcool to get a break from the daily propaganda and constant background noise of politics - unfortunately there's no relief.

November 23, 2007

Culture Shock: Majority of Those Polled Prefer 'Merry Christmas'

Deck those halls and ring the bells: a recent Rasmussen poll says 67% of respondents prefer the term "Merry Christmas" to the bland "Happy Holidays" in seasonal advertising by retailers. Naturally, more Republicans preferred it than Democrats, but even a slim majority of Dems like saying "Merry Christmas."

No wonder Lowe's had to back off their "Family Tree" catalog offering.

A large majority of Americans -- 95% -- celebrate Christmas, Christian or not. Don't worry, Christmas haters...no one is going to force you to have a Merry Christmas. But is having someone say it to you akin to having water doused on the Wicked Witch of the West? Get over your phobia already!

July 20, 2007

Potter Mania Nears Ridiculous Heights

I am a Harry Potter fan, and look forward to the release of the final book tonight as much as anyone. I refuse to look at spoilers, but have been reading articles about the frenzy surrounding the release with interest.

Some die-hard fans have been camped out in front of stores since yesterday to be first in line to buy the book, some in costume. Others plan on going to parties thrown by book retailers. All well and good, if that's how you want to spend your time. This, however, is one of the sillier things I've seen:

In Britain, a phone counseling service for children expects a surge in calls when readers learn who is killed.

Um...what? It's a BOOK! A work of fiction! It makes you think about how pampered we have become as a society if a child can't handle having a favorite literary character killed off. There are children all over the globe who have to deal with more frightening life circumstances than whether or not Harry, Ron or Hermione bites the dust at the end of the Harry Potter series. Children in Iraq and Darfur, for example. Come on, now!

Some characters
die...get over it!

December 19, 2006

Today's Must-Read

...is by Henry Edmondson on Town Hall, regarding the damage done to our society by multiculturalism and the current education system. A sample:

[S]tudents are today coached to think "critically"—in the absence of civic and historical knowledge. This means that they have little to think critically about. Anyone who doubts that this is the case need only listen to students—high school or college—debate important current events. They demonstrate plenty of passion, but a dearth of information.

Read the rest here.

February 02, 2006

Will & Grace VS Christianity?

A conservative group is upset about an upcoming Will & Grace episode in which Britney Spears guest stars as a Christian television co-host.

AFA pointed to wire reports saying that Britney Spears will make a guest appearance on the April 13 "Will and Grace," playing a conservative Christian sidekick to Sean Hayes' homosexual character, Jack.

When Jack's fictional TV network, Out TV, is bought by a Christian TV network, Spears hosts a cooking segment called "Cruci-fixin's."

How to combat this outrage? Flag burnings? Fatwahs? Armed gunmen storming the NBC headquarters? Er, no.

"Call your local NBC affiliate and ask them not to air the April 13 episode of "Will and Grace," AFA said in a message to supporters.

The group also wants concerned Christians to send a letter of complaint to NBC Chairman Bob Wright, and to spread the word about NBC's latest insult in church bulletins and newsletters.

Many progressive thinkers will pooh-pooh those who are upset about this and other television shows that openly mock Christianity. They will say (correctly) that such shows are protected under the First Amendment. Please take note, however, that in a democratic society we have the right to boycott and protest using peaceful means. Protesting the offensiveness of something is not the same thing as proposing an official ban.

Perhaps the Muslims who are upset about cartoons depicting Muhammed would do well to keep the above protest tactics in mind.

Oh, and do you think that Bill Clinton will be coming to the aid of offended Christians the way he came to the aid of offended Muslims?

"None of us are totally free of stereotypes about people of different races, different ethnic groups, and different religions ... there was this appalling example in northern Europe, in Denmark ... these totally outrageous cartoons against Islam," [Clinton] said.

I wouldn't bet the ranch.

February 01, 2006

Celebrating Black History Month with Mean Ol' Meany

My friend Two Dogs over at Mean Ol' Meany celebrates his one year blogiversary today (congratulations!), and has an interesting post on Black History Month that is sure to get someone's knickers in a twist. Here's just a sampling:

Let's think about this a bit. Doesn't it make sense to study Dr. King's work alongside the study of the Vietnam War? Doesn't it make sense to handle the studies about slavery alongside the founding of this country, the Revolutionary War, the writing of the Constitution, and the Civil War? Doesn't it make sense to study the first black Supreme Court Justice at the same time as you study exactly how stupid the welfare programs of Lyndon Johnson were? And doesn't it make sense to look into the Tuskegee Airmen at the same time that you are studying D-Day?

If you remove these events from history's time line and push them into one month of study, you disrupt the flow of history in its context. Kids will never know that the Montgomery Bus Boycott happened when we were at war with Korea. They will never understand that it took thirteen long years from the point of the Emancipation Proclamation until a Black man could vote. They will not understand that even though Black men were given the right to vote by the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, Black women were still not given that right until the same time that White women were allowed to vote. (it was called Women's Suffrage and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, in case you were wondering).

He makes a lot of sense. However, I am sure that some readers out there will be quick to say he's a racist and should be burned at the stake (especially after reading his opening). I understand that black history, such as it is, was either ignored or glossed over for a long time -- too long. However, in rectifying it, have we gone too far in the other direction? Aren't we all Americans, no matter what our color?

As a special treat, Two Dogs has reworked all 12 months of the year to reflect the history of special interest minority groups.

So head on over. If you are easily offended, fair warning. However, under much of the sarcasm and humor is common sense...which is what I love about Two Dogs.

January 30, 2006

Savings Rates Down

It seems Americans are spending more and saving less:

Americans are spending everything they're making and more, pushing the national savings rate to the lowest point since the Great Depression.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that Americans' personal savings fell into negative territory at minus 0.5 percent last year. That means that people not only spent all of their after-tax income last year but had to dip into previous savings or increase their borrowing.

Not good. I hope no one thinks Social Security will bail them out...

January 06, 2006

The Art World is Going Down the Toilet

Via Breitbart:

A 76-year-old performance artist was arrested after attacking Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" _ a porcelain urinal _ with a hammer, police said.

"Fountain" is estimated at $3.6 million.

I have a couple of questions:

1. How is a plain old urinal considered art?
2. How is bashing it with a hammer considered performance art?

These days, a rotten tomato on a cutting board could be mounted on a pedestal with the name "Cultural Decay" and be called art. And performance art is probably one of the biggest scams going. How about the woman who pours melted chocolate all over her naked body onstage? That's just an excuse to get naked in my book. Call me a philistine if you will, but I just don't get it.

That doesn't excuse the idiot who wielded the hammer, however, for his damaging of private property.