Metal Yarmulke

2004-08-28T11:07:00.000-04:00

Bias? Naaaaaahhhhhh. Email exchange I had recently with Charles Kravetz, president of the extraordinarily biased (yes, even for the mainstream media, and even for the Boston area) New England Cable "News." He accuses me of being "angry," "self-righteous," and "biased" because I disagree with his biased reporting...and he's damned condescending about it, too. Yet he's under the delusion that

2004-08-26T05:00:00.000-04:00

"Kids for Kerry" "We cannot vote yet, but we should have a voice today! That is why we have created KidsForKerry.org. We have learned our ABCs and we believe that John Kerry represents our best hope for a peaceful and hopeful future." (Anyone else nauseated yet?) No, you can't vote yet...and unless you're an older teen who's actually working a job and paying taxes, I really don't care what

2004-07-25T19:20:00.000-04:00

Leila S. Sales of Newton, Mass. MUST DIE. Actual letter from last Thursday's Boston Globe. It convinces me more than ever that a pre-frontal lobotomy greatly increases one's chances of them printing one's letter. OK, Boston, let's stop being whiny ingrates and start getting excited about this Democratic national convention, shall we? Yeah, Leila. I'm sure all those "whiny ingrates" who own

2004-05-24T16:42:00.000-04:00

One woman's critique of domestic-violence programs I found the essay below on a "men's rights" website that, IMHO, is pretty misogynistic — one of the "regulars" actually has a tagline that says "Real women want to be pregnant." That's why I didn't include the link. If you really want to know which site, email me. But the article is worth forwarding, I think. I think this is really fucked up,

2004-05-11T12:19:00.000-04:00

Academia Nuts I just got this notice of events in Boston (never mind that the page header says "Events in Washington," or that some of the events actually happen in cyberspace or on television) from The Teaching Company. In my more solvent days, I ordered a few videos and CDs from them, respectively on the English language and on prehistoric humans in Eurasia. I had just made a mental note to

2004-05-10T12:23:00.000-04:00

This judge deserves a medal. ROCHESTER, New York (AP) — A couple has been ordered not to conceive any more children until the ones they already have are no longer in foster care. ...Monroe County Family Court Judge Marilyn O'Connor ruled March 31 that both parents "should not have yet another child which must be cared for at public expense." "The facts of this case and the reality of

2004-03-06T11:00:00.000-05:00

Getting back to the issue of looks... The attitude that "attractive people = good, unattractive people = bad" is a current in the blogosphere that's especially bothered me for some time. Oh, I really don't care about male bloggers who post "cheesecake" photos. Those, usually, aren't serious-minded posts. What I'm talking about is the meme that if someone, especially a woman, is "unattractive" (

2004-03-06T10:11:00.000-05:00

Some thoughts about "nature" I just posted a version of this on the Findlaw board. I'd gone there to comment on David L.Hudson, Jr.'s excellent piece, "Silencing Student Speech — and Even Artwork — in the P ost-Columbine Era," when I noticed that a vigorous debate over gay marriage was in progress. Has anyone else noticed a certain, well, toggle switch in the religious-conservative arguments

2004-02-24T12:25:00.000-05:00

A few ounces of flesh from the RIAA In today's snail-mail: "February, 2004 "Dear Massachusetts Music Purchaser: "As Attorney General for the State of Massachusetts, I am pleased to enclose payment for your claim in the settlement of the Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation. This lawsuit was brought by the Attorneys General of 43 states and three territories and by

2004-01-15T21:22:00.000-05:00

Man, the stuff you can buy on eBay! It vanished from the online world minutes after eBay learned of the joke, but an attempt to auction off the state of West Virginia drew 56 bids and nearly enough promised cash to fill the state's budget hole. By Tuesday evening, with five days to go in the sale of item number 2372779353, "Entire State of West Virginia," bidders had bumped the ante up to just

2004-01-11T12:15:00.000-05:00

A Letter from Godwin A friend sent me this Salon story the other day. "Two online entries out of hundreds in MoveOn's TV-spot contest compared Bush to Hitler, and Republicans cry "hate speech." But they're the ones who are twisting the truth." I'd never heard of Joan Walsh before, but a quick Google shows that TrogWatch mentions her in the same breath as Ted Rall, which tells me a lot. I

2004-01-11T09:55:00.000-05:00

Dumbass Stalinist Meltdown Glenn Reynolds has mentioned this, and Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has been all over it. "Open Letter to the Global Indymedia Network from SF Bay Area IMC by San Francisco Bay Area IMC Saturday, Jan. 10, 2004 at 4:58 AM "Introduction "It is with much sadness and urgency that we inform the greater indymedia community about the ongoing crisis within the

2003-12-06T13:55:00.000-05:00

"Come, Mr. Tallyman...." Zimbabwe's Rev. Canaan Banana (seriously!) has passed away. Mark Steyn gives an overview of the Bad Reverend's life that you probably don't want to read while at work. Despite Steyn's obvious contempt for Banana's depravity, you can imagine him snickering as he penned some of these lines.

2003-12-06T12:39:00.000-05:00

The Way We [Never] Were A reader of John Ray's mostly excellent blog Dissecting Leftism writes, "A leftist teacher friend of mine found herself painted into a corner recently when she tried to explain 50s social values to a class of modern teens. Despite her best effort to sell the advantages of feminism, diversity and libertine culture, most of the kids quickly saw the more stable and

2003-12-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

Schlock the Vote A friend approvingly sent me this article: Rockers Unite to Oust Bush. People with a lot of artistic talent but no serious understanding of how the greater world works suddenly think that because millions buy their albums and cheer at their concerts, they're globopolitical geniuses. I'm not a big fan of Laura Ingraham, but I do intend to borrow her book Shut Up and Sing,

2003-11-28T11:11:00.000-05:00

The reverse brain drain I tend not to blog on scientific and/or technological matters because they're largely way out of my expertise. But I thought I'd post a link to this Wired article about a senior biologist who's fled the U.S. for the U.K. because of the existing ban on stem-cell research. Two and a half years ago, President Bush restricted federal funding for research that uses embryonic

2003-11-26T20:46:00.000-05:00

Some people have no sense of irony. I guess when you move in social circles that require you to nasally tune out the fetor of unwashed epidermes, undeodorized pit, and fermented patchouli, it's easy to interpret a sign that says "This Protest Needs Soap" as racist. Oh, and...fourth-year poli sci major? I snickered at the comment on Fark predicting that next year, Mike Cox (yeah, say it out loud

2003-11-26T17:08:00.000-05:00

"Mother Earth" first, humans last...as always. If you live here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts, you might not want to eat red grapes for a while...unless you relish the thought of being bitten by a black widow spider. But don't worry! The tree-huggers say it's for our own good. Money quote: "We're seeing four or five people coming across spiders in their grapes, but we're seeing a

2003-11-20T12:23:00.000-05:00

Getting to the bottom of things.... Mark Simpson, writing in Salon yesterday, compares the current scandal about Prince Charles and his valet with the classic British "Carry On" comedies. I don't subscribe to Salon, but a friend who does forwarded me the article, and my reply ended up being so long and involved that I figured I might as well blog it. The timing is kind of funny. Not long ago, I

2003-11-15T07:05:00.000-05:00

Vouchers, please. Faster. This twit teaches pacifism instead of what he was paid to teach ... and the reporter — for a web publication called Teacher Magazine, mind you — practically glows as she describes the crap he gets away with. (Oh, and scroll down for a look at the photo. Jeeeeezus.) Some choice quotations: "At the end of the year," he recalls, "one of the mothers called me up, a

2003-11-07T16:03:00.000-05:00

M2K* Compliance *Makes Kids Kill The following portion of Roger Ebert's review of the new Gus Van Sant movie, Elephant, should give you a good idea why the "violent movies make violent kids" meme will not die, as idiotic as it is. Let me tell you a story. The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound

2003-11-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

HA! I'm not completely abnormal. Linked by Instapundit.com: Women enjoy online erotica, too. And apparently not just us corrupt big-city types, either. "The editors of Today's Christian Woman, an evangelical magazine, had heard anecdotes of churchgoing women getting hooked on pornography, so they conducted a survey asking readers of their online newsletter if they had intentionally visited porn

2003-10-30T18:39:00.000-05:00

Angry Letter no. 2682 To: howiecarr@wrko.com I am a 36-year-old childfree woman. No, not "childless." ChildFREE. I do not have any interest in children. I do not enjoy being around them for more than a short while. I have no maternal instinct to speak of. That, Howie, is why I do not have children. A few years ago, I was dating a guy who really, really wants children someday. Because I liked

2003-10-13T21:04:00.000-04:00

Why I support the Second Amendment. "As far as guns go, I didn't buy my shotgun until I had my first child. When I saw my oldest daughter's little face, I became fiercely protective and wanted to make sure I had a gun in my home just in case. That's as far as it goes." I've never seen this guy's blog before, so I can't say I know anything about him...but I'm glad he had that gun. Read the

2003-09-24T19:50:00.000-04:00

What a D1ckhead! An art museum at Oxford University just paid $387,000 for this 16th-century Italian maiolica plate, featuring a man's head (that is, the one on his shoulders) made up entirely of, uh, male organs of regeneration. Aside from the chuckle at artistic talent put to smutty purposes, and the usual marvel about how little human nature seems to change over the centuries, I as an

2003-09-24T09:20:00.000-04:00

"Women Who [Don't] Love France" A feminist acquaintance has forwarded me a "Call For Submissions" email that originated from Avalon Publishers, which is seeking essays and stories from "Women Who Love France." Subject matter, they say, can include things like one's youthful infatuation with the language and the culture, the culinary offerings, manners and customs, travel experiences, experiences

2003-09-18T11:14:00.000-04:00

I don't know why I bother...but I do. (Revised a bit for the Web.) To the Editor of the Boston Globe: In Ellen Goodman's rather clueless column about the idiotic "latte tax" of Seattle, there is, unsurprisingly, the obligatory reference to "slash[ing] taxes for the rich." Who are these "rich," whom Globe writers and their fellow ideologues love to hate? The word's use seems intended to

2003-09-18T09:29:00.000-04:00

"Air-Conditioned Islam" A liberal Muslim friend (yep, they exist — though by the standards of the state Commonwealth of Massachusetts, she's a "right-winger") forwarded this article to me today. All the trends that the writer laments...I consider good things. The "economic liberalism" he writes of despairingly is just the thing Egypt needs. It'll raise everyone's standard of living — yes, even

2003-09-16T05:56:00.000-04:00

My letter to New England Cable News To whom it may concern, Up with insomnia this morning, I was flipping between New England Cable News and The Weather Channel, trying to get updates on the hurricane. I happened to catch the "Newsnight" segment about the fence Israel is proposing to build to protect its citizens from homicide bombers. I watched perhaps only the last three to four minutes of

2003-09-14T15:02:00.000-04:00

Nashville vs. country music Couldn't have said it better myself. Even Robbie Fulks wasn't half as eloquent.

2003-09-12T19:44:00.000-04:00

"Wurdz: They take care of you." — George Carlin Well, the WaPo is good for something, I guess. John Rogers over at The Therapy Sessions posts an email he got about their "Style Invitational," which invited readers to come up with new words by tweaking a dictionary-defined one by one letter. Children of the '70s and '80s might recall Rich Little's gig popularizing the very similar meme of "

2003-09-12T19:15:00.000-04:00

Is it just me? Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the most religious of persons. But does anyone else think that by calling Johnny Cash's and Warren Zevon's numbers back to back, but leaving us with Titney Spheres, Wacko Jacko, the assorted and sundry washups of Branson and Vegas, and a wide variety of waste products in the genre of [c]rap...the deity is trying to tell us something? No?

2003-09-12T16:55:00.000-04:00

Friday Mornin' Comin' Down. Lusus Naturae writes in alt.tasteless: Johnny Cash will be much lamented. Personally, I plan on getting profoundly drunk and singing at the top of my lungs until the neighbors complain. Of course, that's not too much different from what I do on any given day, but now at least I'll have a good reason. There are all kinds of tributes today all over the web and on

2003-09-11T02:15:00.000-04:00

The Falling Man Remember.

2003-09-08T12:55:00.000-04:00

ONO!!!!! Yoko Ono to "strip for peace." "If that guy had aimed a little to the left....he'd have been a hero." — Judy Tenuta This, I think, is a good place to shill for Martha Bayles' impressive book Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in Popular Music. (I've reviewed it on the page linked under the Amazon nick reginleif2.) A central theme in the book is that of "perverse

2003-09-05T15:18:00.000-04:00

The scary thing about this list is... ...not only can I imagine many things on it actually happening, but I'm sure that several of them actually have (other than the extremely obvious few, that is). This, by the way, is a "Club Top Five" list, only available if you're a paid subscriber to Top 5. Which I highly suggest you become; it's a measly $12 a year, and you get access to a lot of bonus

2003-09-03T12:41:00.000-04:00

Terrorized by a Toilet. Steve Marshall vividly remembers the night he was terrorized by a toilet. "When I approached the toilet, the lid lifted automatically," said Marshall. "Then, as I stood in front of it, the seat also lifted. All I could think was, whoa...haunted bathroom! I just could not urinate for fear of what might happen next." I'm visualizing Marshall as Seymour in Little Shop of

2003-09-03T11:16:00.000-04:00

Gubernatorial follies (From alt.tasteless discussion comparing various candidates for the California governorship:) Kevin Richter (Information technology manager): "I breathe." – Bobbi Hatch That's actually more than most IT managers can claim. – Ken Strayhorn *** [Suggested] bumper sticker: The People FOR Larry Flynt. –John Lienhart *** Darrelll Issa [dropped out of the race because] he's

2003-09-01T16:24:00.000-04:00

Dumbass of the Day "He apparently didn't know what he had because he would be awfully stupid to steal a tracking device," said correctional officer Thomas Roth, who runs the home detention program at the Rock County Jail. The best thing about this story is that Janesville, WI, where this happened, is home to one of Wisconsin's state prisons. Not only did this considerate fellow save the

2003-08-31T15:24:00.000-04:00

Help a noob. Anybody out there with Blogger post-traumatic stress experience know how to get the comments working? I'm still learning HTML and I'm not all that confident in my ability to adjust the template. The prompt ("¿Como?") shows up at the bottom of each post, but when I try to post a test comment, it doesn't show up, and I get this at the top of the comments window: Warning:

2003-08-31T14:59:00.000-04:00

The PETArds strike again By now, unless you've been living in a cave, you've heard all about the "liberated minks" of Washington State. If you have been living in a cave, here's a page of linky goodness for ya. Now, before you read the following quotations from alt.tasteless, be aware that I do not condone prison rape in any form or fashion. Be aware, though, that neither do I condone other

2003-08-31T14:51:00.000-04:00

Dealing with Telemarketers, Lesson #46892 Scopata Fuori writes in alt.tasteless: Settled in for a healthy defecation session, when the phone rang. I had the cordless within reach, but the caller ID part was on the base unit and was hobbled by my sense of modesty as well as my desire not to introduce a swath of shit into my freshly laundered khakis. So blindly, I answered. Oh joy, oh what a

2003-08-31T14:31:00.000-04:00

Bits & pieces... Dumbass. * * * * * * * Another dumbass. Ooooops. * * * * * * * Recently seen on the rear window of a car in Michigan, in white: I put the [picture of "Hello, Kitty"] in [picture of "Hello, Kitty"]-whupped * * * * * * * Mmmmmm, bad meat. Reminds me of the guy who ran the st00dint cafeteria when I was in college. He was such a cheapskate that after a conscientious

2003-08-31T14:16:00.000-04:00

Stank: Now with ADA Protection! Murfreesboro sets body odor policy for city employees Posted by: George Metaxas, 8/25/03, 4:44 p.m. City officials say one smelly employee is responsible for a new policy that requires all city employees to smell nice when reporting for work. The Murfreesboro City Council adopted the good hygiene policy Thursday: "No employee shall have an odor generally

2003-08-27T13:32:00.001-04:00

Hi, welcome to my blog. You may have seen me commenting at a variety of weblogs, mostly right of center, particularly Little Green Footballs (hi, Charles!). If you're acquainted with alt.tasteless, you may recognize my handle from there, where I now post under MizDaisyCutter. I was gonna keep two blogs, one for political commentary, and one for tasteless and cynical humor, writing the former