I’m pleased that one of my reasons for my continued sanity—whatever remains of it in its disfigured form—has returned with new content. In this instance, I’m referring to Real Time with Bill Maher.
Several wonderful things transpired during Friday’s episode that were notable. Amongst them is Seth MacFarlane’s near-perfect Shatner-esque delivery of a speech regarding war, nearly ripped word-for-word from the original Star Trek episode, “A Taste of Armageddon.”
(Thanks to TrekMovie.com for posting an article with the YouTube embed!)
A second item was Seth MacFarlane’s response to Sarah Palin’s fake outrage where she pretends to be a defender for those affected by Down Syndrome. The YouTube embed is disabled, but I shall offer this link. Clicky, clicky. (MacFarlane’s comments are segued by Real Time’s skit on what various celebrities have written on the palm of their hand, Palin-style.)
Now, I did see the Family Guy episode in question, and I found nothing in it that made fun of anyone with Down Syndrome—including Pailn’s son, Trig. Now, I’m not a heartless bastard, although at times I may come off as one, as I feel sorry for Trig. I feel sorry that Trig received the short straw and ended up not only with Down Syndrome, but with an idiot like Sarah Palin as a mother.
Trig’s just fucked—and it has nothing to do with MacFarlane or his cartoon.
If anything, this whole thing reminds me how fortunate I am to be surrounded by people who actually like me for who I am—in that regard, I am far better off than I was more than a year ago—and that I have my health.
Regardless, this fake outrage is just another attempt by the Alaskan Drama Queen to gain attention to herself and her laughable political ambitions. Sad, really. What’s even sad is that people still talk about Sarah Palin, as if she’s the new face of the Republican party.
So, to my fellow Americans who believe themselves Republicans, I state the following: When the late Republican president Abraham Lincoln spoke of being able to “fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time,” Lincoln did not refer to parading around the imbecile who effectively euthanized McCain’s campaign. (Not that this is the first time that Republicans tried to kill a McCain presidential ticket… during their previous attempt, they trotted out a metal deficient who masqueraded as a Texan and Governor Bush assumed the White House.) However, being the RINOs that the present Republican Party now are, I’ll give them credit for borrowing from former Republicans. It would be embarrassing if they borrowed inspiration from Stalin and the SOP from Gulags.
Then there’s also this, which gave me a laugh, because it will never come to pass.
Obama is a weak-willed, inexperienced pissant who, I believe, will be remembered as the Jimmy Carter of the new millennium. I want to feel sorry for Obama, since he did walk into a pile of shit not of his own making, but he’s simply either impotent or incompetent. He took the job knowing the risks, and ergo I can’t feel any empathy for him, for empathy isn’t going to fix a fucking thing. Decisive action is, even if it is unpopular.
A majority of Obama’s initiatives—like a public option for health care—are now pretty much dead (leading me to question if they ever really had life at all) and, sadly, the economy is only getting weaker… so Obama’s battles have already been lost before they were waged. This being the case, Obama should throw out any of his attempts to be bi-partisan and become a dick. Since Cheney is all but bragging about torturing human beings—lest we forget that, for better or for worse, these people are human—Obama should really piss off the Repugnantcans and string Cheney by his pubes for war crimes. Hey, they did call their actions integral parts of the “war on terror,” after all. Ergo, it is a war crime!
What is the worst that can happen? Impeachment proceedings? And even impeachment, in and of itself, isn’t going to get Obama jettisoned from the presidency. So… he’s already lost everything, and he should just go down fighting, like any honorable bloke would do.
It’ll never happen of course, but one can always dream. Aside from hope, dreams are the only thing that a majority of Americans really have left at this point.
And on a slightly lighter ancillary subject, the only downfall from Friday’s Real Time program was this: the discussion of the Kevin Smith’s issue with Southwest Airlines by discussing the erroneous story as if it were fact. I’ve never liked Southwest Airlines anyway, as their customer service blows chunks… and Kevin Smith’s issue wasn’t with his weight, but with how he was treated and how Southwest continues to cover up their employees’s errors with piles of steamin’ lies.
So, if Bill wants to apologize for not going with all the facts, he’ll probably do it live next week.
I think Obama and the Democrats need to get an idea of how the world works… Seeing as they’re getting pwned by Republicans as of late and have no concept of actual reality, or so it seems. On that note, I’m glad that Ted Kennedy was able to keep the seat warm for the past 46 years for a Republican boy model to simply waltz in and take it. I’m sure Kennedy is rolling in his grave right now.
Democrats, keep up the good work, you worthless suits. It’s times like these where I really want there to be a viable third party in this country, because both parties are abominations of the political system that need to be put down like rabid dogs.
Anyway, Democrats and Obama need to watch this. Please. Get the fucking message and get moving. This country is in such deep shit right now that I really do see America following the footsteps of the Roman Empire.
What’s that saying? “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”?
As usual, if you are reading this on Facebook, please go to my blog directly as this blog entry has video embeds. Thank you.
I was scouring Youtube the other night and stumbled across a rare interview that Patrick McGoohan (the titular tour de force behind The Prisoner) did in 1977. It is in four parts that run about 40 minutes and the quality is what you’d expect from a VHS recording, but it is an interesting look not only behind-the-series itself but on McGoohan’s views of society in general.
A warning for those of you who haven’t seen The Prisoner: there are spoilers here regarding the series’ finale—actually, finale isn’t the right word to use regarding The Prisoner’s last episode, so let’s just get that out of the way right now.
Anyway, for your consideration…
I do happen to agree with McGoohan’s assertion that progress, or what passes for progress, is the most dangerous issue that humanity faces. There are many valid points here that are worthy of debate, such as his observation that there has not yet been a weapon created by man that hasn’t been used. We already know about the ciphering of the citizenry—with everyone assigned with a number (or, in today’s world, countless numbers)—and we know of the horror of nuclear and, to a lesser extent, biological weapons. Ergo, we should all be very fearful of what is to come, unless we take care and control of our actions as a species.
You may not agree, but at least watch the above videos, and feel free to discuss as I intend on writing more on these topics in the future.
I’m writing to tell a story that few people will probably ever read. It’s all right. I probably won’t really remember all the details in the few years myself, which is why I’m writing it down while the details are reasonably fresh in my memory. Here goes. More to read…
As I grow increasingly disgusted (much to my own sadness) with the present human condition—indeed the rampant stupidity and lack of integrity of the citzenry in this country—I can’t help but wonder whether I should really run for the hills and become a hermit like Old Ben Kenobi. Or would that just be too easy?
Watch these clips, then ask yourself… Well, ask yourself the question that Dana Gould asked at the end of the second segment. Because I need an answer to that question.
For those reading this as a Facebook note, the Youtube links are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBGusPcNzxw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht_W5_Ogh0U
For those reading this as a blog on my website, JoeBeaudoinDOTnet, I’ve embedded these clips below:
From an e-mail forwarded to me just a few minutes ago. Original author unknown, otherwise I’d credit them. Honestly.
The AMA on the Economic Stimulus
Apparently the American Medical Association has weighed in on the new economic stimulus package.
The Allergists voted to scratch it, but the Dermatologists advised not
to make any rash moves. The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut
feeling about it but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a
lot of nerve.
The Obstetricians felt they were all labouring under a misconception.
Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted. Pathologists yelled, “Over my dead body!” while the Pediatricians said, ‘Oh, Grow up!’ The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it. Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing. The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, “This puts a whole new face on the matter.”
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were
pissed off at the whole idea. The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas and the Cardiologists didn’t have the heart to say no.
In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up
to the assholes in Washington.
Seriously, I read this article at Bloomberg that mentions that Best Worst Buy lowered their earnings forecast for the year. Of course, while I could care less about their earnings (I hope the company and its outlets of pure evil burns to the ground in a night of blood and of fire) I read the comments that came from the top people at that company…
They were excuses. They cited the increasing cost of gas, the slumping housing market, and the economy. They also noted that people don’t need anything Best Buy has to offer, since all of it is electronic junk anyway.
Of course, their comments were ones that supervisors at my Best Buy made over a year ago, when the economy began turning to shit.
The response from upper management: No excuses, just results.
That became the standard answer for everything. Staffing. Missing budgets by several grand. Basically, anything worthy of honest complaint or observation that went against the bullshit from on high.
Now I find it funny that the same people who condoned that bullshit line are regurgitating this feedback from supervisors (and intelligent managers) for the press.
Of course, I’m not curious as to the messages management and those minions under them will receive from on high… because the message to them will be quite different than what the big-wigs defecate to the press.
What will happen in the next six months? Simple. Restructures. People losing jobs.
I ran across this video. Although it has that overused “Requiem for a Dream” music running in the background, the information there is priceless. Scientology is truly a dangerous cult, and its “founding father” is nothing more than a “sci-fi” hack who couldn’t hack it as a writer and concocted the ultimate pyramid scheme: a “religion” based on a “science”.
So I received this little gem in my e-mail. It’s from BusinessWire.com and covers the fact that a class action lawsuit has been filed in New York over the fact that people are being forced to work through their lunch breaks and are being held in the building for “security checks” after being punched out.
Basically, your standard Best Buy SOP that I can fully attest to, because I’ve worked through my lunch breaks and have had to wait for the fucking closing manager to stop playing with themselves. (Oh, I’ll also mention that I’ve had to search manager’s bags while off the clock as well during closing! Yeah. Go figure.)
Now, if this class action lawsuit becomes a country-wide thing, that would be wonderful. Hell, I’ll happily join in, even if the result is a monetary pittance.
To much fan fare from the Wikipedians and Wikia, the for-profit service, launched their vaunted human-editable and maintainable search engine a few days ago. Essentially, the philosophy behind it is the same as it is with Wikipedia in that you can create and edit what search engines spew out whenever you search for a term.
Of course, having just tried it, I am wholly unimpressed. Then again, this is the same group of people who are involved in MediaWiki development who can’t give us an internal search engine worth a damn… I have to use Google to look up terms on Wikipedia! Bah!
I know that it is a beta, but there are several concerns which ring the alert klaxons immediately.
The more immediate one for me is this: I don’t trust Jimbo’s Jabronis to tell me what I need to know. Just look at the watchdog group Wikipedia-Watch.org and what they’ve dredged up over the years about so-called power-tripping Wikipedians in high powered positions. Frankly, I find the most ardent Wikipedians to be blood-shot eyed liberal extremists who believe in raping and pillaging information to suit their worldview. It really is like the concepts laid out by The Party in 1984 are coming true!“Neutral Point of View” my ass. It is more a case of “Might makes Right Point of View”.
Now, I must note that the ardent, outspoken bloodshot eyed liberal extremists who comprise Wikipedia and some of Wikia are a small minority of their contributor base. However, they are in positions of power, and thus explains my “might makes right” comment. (Axiom of the day, courtesy of Shakespeare: “There is little choice in a barrel of rotten apples.â€)
Secondly, there is a reason why search engine algorithms are hidden from the public. If they were released under GNU or other open software license, spammers and the like would easily be able to manipulate search engine results to produce more garbage. Wikia, which says that its search engine code will be revealed to all, will be exploited ruthlessly by spammers and scammers wanting to make a buck because they know how it works. It’s like telling a thief who wants to steal from Fort Knox everything about the security setup!
To summarize, it’s really simple why Wikia’s Search will fail, and it all boils down to these tried and true axioms:
Money talks, bullshit walks.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
History is written by the victors.
I’ll leave you with this tidbit from 1984:
Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.
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