Iron Pyrite (2008 Edition)

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What a weird week on the blogs: FOX's Roger Ailes is afraid of "homosexual activists"; the food stamp diet isn't good for you (but not why you think); Rudy dials 911 and no one answers; what's causing discomfort at FOX News?; and who really benefits from the stimulus? All this, plus some silly Sherri Shepherd-ness to chew on, and DUers underpants, jannyk and tomeboy rock your world! Enjoy!

Notable Blog Posts Missed last Week

Did you catch that whole "Poor people are fat because they don't buy healthy stuff with their food stamps" crapola last week? If you missed TBogg's excellent smackdown of Megan McArdle, here's a snippet:

...I think she maybe misses the boat...okay, she walks off the dock, flounders in the water, and smacks her head against the pilings repeatedly as the tide comes in, about the difference between eating lots of food and eating food that's bad for you. It's not that Megan isn't cognizant of this fact, it's just that poor people are big fat slobby stupid people (which is why they are poor and never get invited to the Hamptons) who fry everything.

The comments are priceless! Also priceless, this pic from 2millionth web log, posted prior to Rudy's "9/11 is out of order" meltdown:

Soon, We Won't Have Rudy to Kick Around Anymore

History. Repeating. Good times. Considering who else will soon be saying, "Up yours" and "Adios, MoFos," Scriptoids http://scriptoids.blogspot.com/2008/01/hmfic-goes-bibi.html">had the early 411 on Bush's upcoming SOTU address:

HMFIC says BIBI

I have been waiting years for this: Bush's final State of the Union address. One more to go folks! Still, good God, what is the man going to talk about for 45 minutes?

In a bow to political reality, President Bush's final State of the Union speech will skip bold proposals in favor of ones the country has heard before....

Perhaps Bush should forego the long trek to Capitol Hill and just text message his brilliance.

Note: HMFIC- Head MoFo In Charge (or, in this case, Head MoFo-In-Chief). Meanwhile, outside the Beltway in...

The States Of The Union

This week's notable blog posts from state-centric bloggers: Washblog (Washington state) has a thought provoking post on "America's core values," which begins with Barack Obama "touching that tender nerve of idealism" and ends with a plea for us "to see through political tactics generated by polls and political consultants." Well worth the read! Green Mountain Daily (Vermont) laments the pitiful school administration response to parents of a child whose preacher/teacher posts the ten commandments and passes out handouts, including "Why Jesus is better than Santa Claus." Here's a snippet:

The school says it's addressing the issue, although apparently it's been going on for years. I think it's important to really understand what's going on here. What the teacher does in his job is not just what the teacher is doing, it's what the government is doing. Thus, we shouldn't be talking just about what this teacher is doing, but why the government is indoctrinating children in one religious perspective. It's very clearly unconstitutional, and if it isn't immediately halted they need to be sued.

Truly heavy sigh. Meanwhile, down in Georgia, flackattack at Tondee's Tavern relates how his support for Tsongas (1992), Bradley (2000), and Edwards (2004) was based more on message, not electability:

It occurs to me that in each of the past elections I've been drawn to the message over any electability concerns. If you look back I think the "more electable" candidate in every case was not the one I chose to support. Establishment candidate or not, I was interested in the message and narrative of the campaign, not the mechanical factors of winning, paths to victory, or conventional wisdom, etc...

So here I sit pondering where I am for this election and it hits me; now I do care about winning. I want to win really badly, and that is coloring off my ability to make a choice. I should be an Obama supporter. I should be one of the "intellectual liberals" (I hate that segmentation, btw), that in the Bill Bradley mold, sees Obama as a strategic and visionary leader. It seems like a natural fit for me.

But then I look at the Clinton campaign and don't doubt for a second that she has the toughness and the chops to beat and wear down any of the Republican candidates. I don't doubt it for a second. It's certainly not original thought, but that is why the Clintons are so hated by the right. The Clintons play to win and it drives the Republican base nuts. Obama is feeling that right now.

Got any advice for Flackattack? As of today, s/he's still undecided and requests your input.

Finally, liberal thinkers in the great state of Texas are wondering wtf is going on in Lewisville this week. Whos Playin at Who's Playin'?.com describes the weird overreaction of school and police officials who arrested a kid for sniffing the teacher's hand sanitizer... because he likes the smell. My favorite official quote:

In the view of school officials, the boy "inhaled heavily," according to Mr. Ortiz, who said his son sniffed the cleanser "because it smelled good."

Whos Playin concludes:

The good news is that the charges were dropped by the DA's office here in Denton County. The bad news is that we seem to have some pretty screwed up priorities in our school system and with our police department. Not to say that either of them are doing a bad job, but this particular case doesn't cast them in a good light. They were willing to ruin this young man's future over something simple and probably thoughtless. It shows an extreme and callous lack of discretion.

Proof positive: do something stupid, and some snarky blogger will make you famous... a famous idiot, that is. Especially when you're an easy target...

Pablum For The Masses And Bomb-Proof Glass

Roger Ailes (Fox) Is A Big Fat Coward. Really. According to Dan Cooper, blogging at caos.us, Ailes insisted that his Manhattan office windows be "bomb proof" because, as Ailes says...

"As soon as we're on the air, homosexual activists are going to be down there every day protesting, and who knows what the hell they'll do."

By the way, Cooper describes Ailes as being fat. Also of note: there's no such thing as bomb proof glass. Finally, I've never heard of "homosexual activists" wanting to be anywhere near Roger Ailes, have you? Ewwwwww. Adding insult to injury, Eric Boehlert at Media Matters lists the many reasons why FOX News is in for a very bumpy 2008:

Right now, which of the following topics is likely causing the discomfort inside Ailes' Fox News empire?

A) CNN's resurgence as the go-to cable destination for election coverage.

B) The incredible shrinking candidacy of Fox News' favored son, Rudy Giuliani.

C) The still-standing candidacy of Fox News nemesis and well-funded, anti-war GOP candidate Rep. Ron Paul.

D) The Democratic candidates' blanket refusal to debate on Fox News during the primary season.

E) Host Bill O'Reilly being so desperate for an interview from a Democratic contender that he had to schlep all the way to New Hampshire, where he shoved an aide to Sen. Barack Obama and then had to be calmed down by Secret Service agents.

F) Former Fox News architect and Ailes confidante Dan Cooper posting chapters from his a wildly unflattering tell-all book about his old boss. ("The best thing that ever happened to Roger Ailes was 9/11.")

G) The fledgling Fox Business Network, whose anemic ratings are in danger of being surpassed by some large city public access channels.

H) Host John Gibson's recent heartless attacks on actor Heath Ledger, just hours after the young actor was found dead.

I) Fox News reporter Major Garrett botching his "exclusive" that Paul Begala and James Carville were going to join Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, and then refusing to correct the record.

I'd say it's A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. (I doubt Gibson's grave-dancing or Garrett's whopper caused Ailes a moment's concern.)

Ouch. That hurts. Fun to watch, though.

Iron Pyrite (2008 Edition)

Citizen Sugar asks, "How many flat screens will the stimulus buy?" Judging by the comments, no one's happy about the deal. Also weighing in on the stimulus, Distributor Cap writes:

The package also includes close to $50 billion in business tax cuts. The package would allow businesses to immediately write off 50 percent of purchases of plants and other capital equipment and permit small businesses to write off additional purchases of equipment. There are other business provisions as well.

But for a Democratic supermajority. Heavy sigh. Now, some good news...

Congrats, Crooks and Liars!

The venerable video-laden blog has been nominated for a Bloggie in the best political blog category. Send C and L some comment love.. Good news and bad news...

Mr. Sandman Colbert, Send Me A Dream!

Yep, someone "defaced" the public sand in Myrtle Beach by sculpting Stephen Colbert's famous arched-eyebrow "Blue Steel" look. Hat tip to Best Week Ever):

Monumental Moments For Colbert

From COMEDY CENTRAL INSIDER - Art has gone awry down in Myrtle Beach. Well, not really. Someone created a sand sculpture with an air of superiority down south.

No Fact Zone put up this picture today of an oddly familiar sand sculpture in Myrtle Beach, SC:


"I'm supposed to tell you I can neither confirm or deny the existence of said sculpture," said chamber President Brad Dean on Tuesday, about an hour after a Myrtle Beach fire crew demolished the sculpted face. "I hate to be evasive, but we've been asked to do that."

Nice, while it lasted. Now what kind of person would hate Stephen Colbert enough to order his sand face destroyed? Yeah, obvious, isn't it? In other bad news...

So Long, Progressive Daily Beacon!

What a way to end one blog and begin another, PDB. Blame Hillary Clinton and write that you're too tired to continue pointing out that there's really no difference between Democrats and Republicans?

I'm done with it ... done with fighting for and supporting a party that isn't really any better than the Bushies. Instead, when I start it, I hope to create a blog that deals with changing how people look at their values, their country and the world that they live in. In other words, instead of arguing over nonexistent political differences, I want to change the way people see the issues. So, if/when I start my blog, which will take less time to administer (an hour or two per-day versus 8-10 for the PDB), that will be its purpose.

Stay tuned for updates on the future... um, new and improved PDB blog. Hey, it's time to...

Thank A DUer!

Thanks to underpants for posting these messed up Yahoo News photos:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates


Rep. Ron Paul


Mike Gravel

Tee hee. Yep, that's a photo of Bono among the Republican candidates. And thanks to jannyk for this reply to the messed up photos:

Probably revenge of one of the several hundred they are going to can.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/technology/22yahoo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/technology/22yahoo.ht...

I think you might be onto something, jannyk!

Finally, thanks to tomeboy for this great reminder of how pathetic George W. Bush's presidency has been:

How about George W. and George W. side by side?

Sad, isn't it? Want something silly to sink your teeth into? Here's this week's...

Something To Chew On

The View's Sherri Shepherd really is as stupid as you thought she was. Jezebel notes:

On The View this morning, Sherri Shepherd recounted her close call of almost missing the cutoff for registering to vote via absentee ballot for the election in November. (Shepherd resides in New York, but is a California resident.) And apparently this is the first time that Sherri will be voting...ever! Having turned 18 in 1985, the now-41-year-old has missed out on the past five presidential elections because she "never knew the dates or anything." She said it was important to vote in this one, though, because otherwise, she wouldn't have a right to complain on The View about whomever (sic) is elected for an entire year. (She probably meant to say "four years.")

Before you start reaming Sherri a new one, just remember: according to Ms. Shepherd, nothing predates Jesus. This is just how her mind works, and no amount of "the Tuesday following the first Monday in November in years divisible by four" repetition will probably ever sink in. Want to really confuse Sherri? Remind her that 1900 broke the pattern because there was no leap day in 1900. Leap days are present in years divisible by 4, unless the year is divisible by 100. However if the year is divisible by 400, it still is a leap year. So, 2000 is a leap year, 1900 and 1800 were not. I'd love to see Sherri's reaction to those pesky little election facts, wouldn't you? Her head would probably explode. Tee hee.

Let's face it: Fool's Gold is more than a geological phenomenon (or a movie opening this week, which really made blog searches a pain in the cyber ass). It's a cautionary catch phrase. Beware all that glitters and struts and those who promise you the moon. Dig deep and find the facts. And keep sending those great blog links! See you next week.

-- Delilah Boyd

[bread_and_roses]

1. I've read the "poor are fat because they are greedy, slothful, stupid" here too -

-way too many times, alas. Along with the condescending advice about how easy, cheap, and healthful it is to cook beans and rice from scratch, the horror that the poor will smoke cigarettes and drink beer, and the evils of sugar and red meat. I hope people will follow the links and read the "food stamp challenge" article, and maybe take it themselves before they next post on the topic.

[DCKit]

2. Thanks Delilah. An excellent, un-annotated complement to the DUzys.