THIS IS EXACTLY LIKE WHAT HITLER WOULD SAY!!!!!!

People Who Visit Bill O’Reilly’s Website Love Barack Obama So Much

People Who Visit Bill O’Reilly’s Website Love Barack Obama So Much

Here it is: proof that news bias doesn't affect people's opinions. Can we finally stop whining about it?

I Have Seen The Future, and It Has Liver Spots

This is the creepiest iPhone app that will ever be.



I just bought this and aged a picture of myself. The creepy part: I can put my iPhone into the speaker-dock on my desk at work and it faces me. An aged version of myself, the eyes furtively darting around, watches me as if to say, "this is how you will look, and you will spend the rest of your days behind that desk. Despair! Despair!" You can't imagine how unsettling it is.

It Hasn't Been Such A Bad Week After All

Attention arch-conservatives: this Supreme Court decision to relax restrictions on political ad spending isn't as good for you as you thought.

Here's my thinking. In the broad sense, conservatives tend to trust corporations because they are usually run by older, richer people, who are conservative. Therefore it can be assumed that they will spend on ads that favor conservative candidates and causes. This is why liberals have been so angry about the decision. They believe that corporations will swing elections with a blitz of lies at the last minute.

However, the corporations that most conservatives DON'T trust are the big media. You know, that famous liberal media bias. And who do you think is going to get all that ad money, mmmmm? That's right! CBS, NBC, ABC! Meaning the other 360 days before the election, the entire liberal media can afford to poison our minds against Sarah Palin.


That's why they call me Mr. Brightside, honey.

Rally Monkey

Another thing we can all be grateful for with the Scott Brown senate victory is the massive stock market rally that's happened in the last couple of days.

Cramer: …I think investors who are nervous about the dictatorship of the Pelosi proletariat will feel at ease, and we could have a gigantic rally off a Coakley loss and a Brown win. It will be a signal that a more pro-business, less pro-labor government could be in front of us.

Fox business picked up the story.



Also Drudge, Fox n' Friends and the usual suspects. And here it is three days later, and by God, the market is SOARING!

Damn markets and their liberal bias.

I Picked A Good Month To Avoid Writing About Politics

Let's see - probable failure of health care reform. Air America declares bankruptcy, leaving AM radio almost exclusively ultra-far-right. Supreme Court reverses long-held desicions, decides to let corporations muscle in on politics after all.

I'm going to do the liberal thing and admit defeat. You tea party gentlemen win! We will no longer publicly disagree with you, because we know that makes you angry. I look forward to being forced to join your party, and will relish being thrown out of it a couple of days later.

Just kidding. I love you guys. You're the only true Americans. Let me know if you need any help kicking out the darkies!

(BTW, re that Supreme Court decision: who is going to protect us from George Soros now?)

More Non-Racism: We Only Hate Street Ball

A new professional basketball league boasting rosters made up exclusively of white Americans has its eyes set on Augusta, but the team isn't receiving a warm welcome.

The All-American Basketball Alliance announced in a news release Sunday evening that it intends to start its inaugural season in June and hopes Augusta will be one of 12 cities with a team.

"Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league," the statement said.

Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver, who has publicly expressed his support for minor league teams in the past, said he would not do the same for this team.

"As a sports enthusiast, I have always supported bringing more sporting activities to Augusta," he said. "However, in this instance I could not support in good conscience bringing in a team that did not fit with the spirit of inclusiveness that I, along with many others, have worked so hard to foster in our city."

Clint Bryant, athletic director at Augusta State University, laughed when he heard the news.

"It's so absurd, it's funny, but it gives you an idea of the sickness of our society" he said. "It shows you what lengths people will go to just to be mean-spirited. I think at any basketball level, no matter if it's all black, all white, all Hispanic, all Asian or anyone else, the players should just be a basketball team."

Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, said the reasoning behind the league's roster restrictions is not racism.

"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."

Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color." He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans' dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.

"Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?" he said. "That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."

What a shame there isn't a way to penalize players for rude behavior and yet still allow the blacks! Well Moose, at least there are no problems with white players and violence, profanity, drugs, sexual escapades, 'roids, satanism, booty-dancing, Santaria, and gambling. (Note: not all examples have been documented - yet).

What do you want to bet that a LOT of sentences cascading out of Moose's mouth start with, "I'm not racist, BUT..." Just sayin'.

Guilt By Association - I Still Don't Like It

This bugs me. I don't care what crazies in the audience believe, it means nothing about the candidate himself. Politicians are elected because they build a broad base, and such a base will be rimmed with extremes. Leave Scott alone!

Having said that, I'm down with attacking him for his former nude modeling antics.

Another Potential Upside of the Brown Victory

Making more explicit a point I brought up last night - with the "supermajority" busted, can we admit that Joe Lieberman is our enemy NOW? Isn't it time to cut Joe loose and let him be truely free, the way G-d intended? That is, allow him the influence that all third-party candidates have? I'm all for a big tent, but you have to close the flaps to keep the assasins out.

Congratulations Scott Brown

Well well well. My Democrat friends seem to have gambled that they could spook Republicans by running the absolute worst candidate in the worst campaign and still win. That audacious plan has backfired.

It's not the sea change that some will suggest; the "supermajority" was tenuous at best and hardly filibuster-proof. Hell, one of the people they count on to vote with them was threatening to filibuster. This does mean reconciliation for the Health Care plan, if they're smart. And maybe the public option goes back in now.

It's a small election but it is going to have a big impact on both parties strategies. Worst case scenario: Democrats cave on everything in an attempt to reach out to teabaggers. Best case scenario: Teabaggers start throwing their weight around until they do something really odious and scare away the moderates for good.

It will be interesting to see how someone as reportedly far-right as Scott Brown fares in a moderate-to-liberal state like Massachusetts. I bet he softens his positions enough that the Republicans abandon him within, oh, a year and a half.

KIRY Annoying Comment Policy Change

I've restored CAPTCHAs to the commenting process, to try to cut down on Japanese dating site spam. Apologies to lonely Japanese men.

Discussion Question

A recent discussion on O'Reilly:

O’REILLY: So 48 years ago — 48 years ago in this country we could make fun of Arabs. … We could make fun of people in a general way, and certainly, Ahab was the Arab was a general parody. But now, we can’t. What has changed in America?

(RAY) STEVENS: I think we’ve gone overboard with the political correctness just like so many other people think the same way about that. And I don’t know. We’ve got to come out of that, I think.

So my question is, why do the teabaggers think this is an important issue? Do the wingnuts want to make more fun of Arabs?

I'm Going To Take A Month Off

I might post on the weekends, but don't hold your breath bucko. I'm doing a play with a very short rehearsal schedule and so I'm giving up some of my other free time to fit it in. Hope nothing important happens while I'm gone! If Republicans get control of something, let me know.

Good Luck Rush

Seriously, unironically, I hope Rush gets better.

Narrative Problems

Short memory department - Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber" also managed to get on a plane, was noticed by passengers (they complained of a smoke smell in the cabin) and subdued by them. And yet conservatives say that there were no incidents of terrorism during Bush's watch. These same people are complaining that the incident involving Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab over the weekend constituted a MASSIVE FAILURE of the Obama administration to keep us safe.

I think we should get Dana Perino in here to clarify.

An Airline Security Proposal that Ought To Please Everyone ***UPDATE***

Eureka!

Having given some thought to the statistic I quoted yesterday, about the likelihood of you being on a plane during a terrorist incident, I think I have found a way to improve the system. Some feel that security measures at airports are unnecessarily time-consuming and largely ineffective; others feel that they aren't draconian enough. Nobody is satisfied with them the way they are, even the people responsible for them.

I think the checkpoint is in the wrong place.

In most airports everybody passes through a massive bottleneck to get to the inner terminal, then they go on to their individual gates. The main checkpoint is run by the TSA.

Where the checkpoint should be is as close to the departure lounge as possible. And instead of one, there should be a lot of them. If possible one for each carrier. Virgin should have their own checkpoint, United should have theirs, and so on. And yes, the airlines should fund the whole thing and the government should get out of that business. The airlines can cooperate with the FBI or DHS but it should be their show.

What's to like about this? It allows the consumer to pick an airline that has the security level they're comfortable with. Maybe you're willing to pay more for a company that screens for shampoo, maybe you're not; in either event it's your choice and you're not a victim of some arcane policy decision. People like me who think there is little chance of hijackings and explosions would pay less and get on a plane where they just check your IDs and wave you through.

I'm not even sure it would add to the price of the ticket, but there would surely be a reduction in the federal debt. Maybe the lines would be shorter as well. And a free-market security solution would be more nimble and timely than one that relied on regulation.

What's not to like? Inconsistency I suppose; and worry about whether a terrorist would choose a difficult target because it represents a greater payoff in fear or an easier target because it's you know, easier. If you worry that the majority of airlines would opt for lighter measures because it's cheaper, then that's a problem but it means you also have less faith in free-market economics than you probably claim.

***UPDATE*** WAMK says he proposed this idea several years ago on his old Townhall Blog. I can't honestly say I remember, but I can say that he's probably right. He does an awful lot of travelling by air too, so he'd have an incentive to come up with this plan.

He also says I ridiculed him for it, and I can't wait to hear what I said!

Pre-9/11 Thinking

Courtesy Nate Silver: the odds against you being on a flight with an attempted terrorism incident during the last decade: less than 1 in 10 million. It's 1 in 500 thousand against you being struck by lightning, and yet we aren't all issued lightening rods. Just sayin'.

Yeah, I'm still cranky about the trip.

What Happens in Vegas

McCarren Airport, California Pizza Kitchen - Greetings and I hope you had a Merry, Merry Xmas. Me, I've been in a self-imposed Christmas exile here in Las Vegas since Thursday night. I'll be posting some pictures when I get home but in the meantime here's few observations.

1. This is the trip that I have cemented the flying vs. driving rule - driving is always better. I don't know if my flight will be delayed today (so far it's on schedule) but it takes about five hours to drive from my front door to the Golden Nugget parking lot. On the other hand, a shuttle picked me up at 2:00 Thursday and I left Burbank Airport at 5:30, arriving at the hotel around 7:30pm. Had the flight left on time I wound have arrived in Vegas an hour earlier than driving, but it still woulda cost me $200 more, not counting cab fares, shuttles, and replacing the leatherman all-in-one repair tool that I carry around in my murse. Airport security, dontcha know.

Incidentally there was a terrorist incident on Friday but as of tonight security is no more irritating than usual. Uh... thanks?

2. To hell with the Golden Nugget. I have said that I like the place because it's cheaper than the strip hotels (located as it is on Fremont Street, downtown) and it's closer to the real, mob-controlled Rat Pack Vegas that I treasure. And that's all great but - it's surrounded by nothin'. The Nugget is the best you can do within walkind distance, and it's not so good. Very slow at Christmas. Hell, I wasn't even approached by hookers until Saturday. See below.

3. Hookers are just like Priceline.com. I'm telling you at the start of this anecdote I did not, and will not ever, pay for sex. It's not a morality issue with me; I'm just cheap.

So I'm wandering around the casino floor and there at the end of a row of slot machines a lovely young woman is standing, She says, "hi, can I talk to you?" I try to defer, telling her, "thanks, but I already know where this is going." However, I did sit down for a chat because I had no plans and time to kill. And at least she wasn't tying to sell me a timeshare.

I explained that I have no problem with hookers, only they're kind of like fish in a barrel to me and I prefer real fishing. She persisted though, and described a few services that she offered normally for around $200, and asked me what I'd be willing to pay for them. I said I wouldn't insult her with a figure. She said she just wanted me to name a figure.

$40, I said, which was what I had on me.

She said, that's too low. Maybe if you were willing to go a little over $50 we could make a deal. So I'm thinking she would have settled at $45 had I not walked away from the deal. Remember this, negotiators. If you're negotiating in Vegas, remember its legal there. Though probably not in the Golden Nugget Casino, so use that as leverage.

4. Most strangers think I have a British accent. I don't, honest. Listen to this if you don't believe me. It must be my esoteric word choice.

5. You've got to bet small to lose small. I think I lost $45 dollars over the whole 3.5 days. On gambling, wiseguy. It's just as entertaing to watch other people lose their money as it is to lose your own. Just remember to keep moving, so they don't blame their bad luck on ya.

Vegas Hosts Own Metaphor!

A wishing well outside the new Aria Hotel.

Hey, I Ain't Gonna Make No Excuses

I'm pleased to see Factcheck.org still churning away at false claims in the media, and even more pleased that there isn't a detectable bias in who they target.

The list of howlers includes the false claim that the stimulus bill would dictate to doctors what procedures they can and can’t perform, and assertions that health care legislation would require seniors to get advice on how to commit suicide. Democrats exaggerated the problems their legislation aims to fix — at one point Obama falsely accused an insurance company of being responsible for the death of an Illinois cancer patient. We debunked claims that the "swine flu" vaccine had killed some U.S. sailors, and another claim that a bill passed by the House would require homeowners to make expensive energy-saving modifications to their homes before they would be allowed to sell them. We dealt with false claims about levitating trains, "green jobs," gun control and — still — Obama’s place of birth.

Yeah, the left lies too. Go figure. What I am proud of is, unless I'm mistaken, I didn't quote any of this stuff as fact. Feel free to check me on this, but if you have the patience to wade through my blog you're a better man than I.