And Now for Something Completely Different

The brainiacs at Cracked.com have come up with The 15 Most Sexually Unappealing Porn Titles of all time. Pretty much SFW.

For the record, my favorite is #7.

The Psychological Gang Bang

I had no idea. Really:

We've all witnessed scenarios where, on the playground little girls are being taunted by little boys while both girls and boys stand idle, afraid to speak up or even cheering. Or, in the workplace males tease young and older female co-workers; make obscene gestures, inappropriate comments, laughing and expecting (often correctly) that everyone will join in. Then there was that movie where Jodie Foster portrayed the true story of woman who was ganged raped in a bar while others looked on and encouraged the realization. Still others pretended the rape didn't happen. In short, gang raping of women is commonplace in our culture both physically and metaphorically. (emphasis mine)

This past week, we witnessed just such a phenomenon involving men who are afraid of a powerful woman. Hillary Clinton, in her quest for her Presidential nomination, has in fact endured infantile taunting and wildly inappropriate commentary. Indeed we have witnessed almost comical attacks by John Edwards who in turn sided with Barak Obama as both snickered at Clinton's "breakdown," which consisted of a very short dewy-eyed moment. Now John Kerry, who should certainly know better after his own "swiftboating," has joined the playground gang...

Think about the legacy we'll leave behind when we support Hillary Clinton for President of the United States. Let’s put a stop to the psychological “gang banging” of women and girls. Let's stand up and be counted by way of the hard-won votes we can now cast!

Nothing like a little identity politics to get the blood pumping, is there? (h/t Protein Wisdom, Hot Air)

The Difference Between Campaigning and Voting

In keeping with my previous post, here's the Joke of the Day from Donald Luskin's site.

Down The Memory Hole

In attempting to jog Paul Krugman's memory, Tom Maguire finds this priceless nugget from 1993:

In selling his economic plan, President Clinton is gambling that voters never took seriously his campaign promise to lower the tax burden of the middle class and will respond favorably to an aggressive pitch based on equal measures of hope, fear and class revenge.

After months of polling and research, Mr. Clinton's top political advisers say they are convinced that middle-class voters will support higher taxes. The advisers say the voters will see the new taxes as the price of great improvements in Government service and as inflicting a just punishment on the rich who profited during the Reagan and Bush Administrations.
...

"Voters never believed in the middle-class tax cut, because they have never seen anyone get a tax cut," said Mr. Clinton's chief poll taker, Stanley Greenberg. "They always believed their taxes would go up whether Bill Clinton became President or George Bush was President.

And yet, George W. Bush campaigned on a promise to cut taxes for everyone - including the middle class - and actually did it. Isn't that something?

Gee. I wonder what we're being promised right now that we'll be asked to forgive and forget around this time next year?

First, They Came for Piglet...

"...and I did not speak out because I was not a Disney character and, if I was, I'm more of an Eeyore. So then they came for the Three Little Pigs, and Babe, and by the time I realized my country had turned into a 24/7 Looney Tunes it was too late, because there was no Porky Pig to stammer "Th-th-th-that's all, folks!" and bring the nightmare to an end."

In Great Britain, Orwell would be proud.

Old-School Advertising

File these under "My, how things have changed" or perhaps "What were they thinking?" (h/t Goodshit)

From the Bookshelf

Modern Manners by P.J. O'rourke. One of PJ's earlier efforts but truly hilarious. The opening paragraph sets the tone:

Manners are a way to express altruism in daily life. Either that or manners are a way to screw people over without their knowing it. Anyway, manners are what your mother always wanted you to have. Whether your mother is a noble idealist or a scheming bitch is something that must be decided by you.

Two Wishes

I have two wishes for this weekend. I hope that Fred Thompson wins the Republican primary in South Carolina and that the San Diego Chargers somehow manage to beat the New England Patriots. A tall order? You betcha.

But that's what wishes are all about.

Update: Okay, so one wish down. Fred comes in 3rd in South Carolina, behind McCain and Huckabee. Hopefully, it's enough to keep him going because if he drops out, this will truly be a "hold your nose and vote" election.

Now, about that other wish...

Update 2: Oh, well. There is no joy in mudville tonight.

Becoming Cary Grant

"I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be and I finally became that person. Or he became me. Or we met at some point.”

That is how Archie Leach described his transformation into Cary Grant. Here's more. Happy birthday to one of the world's finest actors.

That's Life

Enjoy life while it's happening, folks. Pretty soon, we'll all be mulch.

Has It Really Been 10 Years?

"On the evening of Saturday January 17, 1998, the internet gossip merchant Matt Drudge posted a story that opened the most sensational scandal season in the history of the American presidency. He reported that Newsweek magazine had killed a story about President Clinton’s sexual relationship with a former intern. The next day he had her name: Monica Lewinsky."

Naturally, I found this link via Drudge.

Public Lynchings

The Golf Channel has suspended Kelly Tilghman for two weeks over her comment on last weeks broadcast about "lynching" Tiger Woods:

HONOLULU (AP) — Golf Channel suspended anchor Kelly Tilghman for two weeks on Wednesday for saying last week that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should "lynch him in a back alley."

Tilghman was laughing during the exchange Friday with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and Woods' agent at IMG said he didn't think there was any ill intent.

But the comments became prevalent on news shows Wednesday, and the Rev. Al Sharpton joined the fray by demanding she be fired immediately. Golf Channel didn't know who would replace Tilghman in the booth this week at the Sony Open or next week at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

"There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this," Golf Channel said in a statement.

Once again the speech control police have invaded the air-waves and Tilghman is paying the price. Never mind that she and Tiger are good friends or that Tiger himself has spoken with Kelly and considers the comment a "non-issue". The Golf Channel has termed her words "hurtful and grossly inappropriate". I won't argue the inappropriate part, but hurtful? To whom?

Obviously, not to Tiger. Al Sharpton? Who cares? Any man whose claim to fame centers on race-baiting has no right to comment. I'd say it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black but he'd probably think that was hurtful and grossly inapproriate, too. So who did these comments hurt? Kelly Tilghman, that's who.

You know, I listen to talk radio every day as I drive to and from work and I've got to tell you, I hear a lot of hurtful and grossly inappropriate comments made. Does this mean I can complain and get someone suspended? If so, I've got this list...

The truth is that in any situation where you spend a lot of time talking in front of people without a script, eventually you're going to say a few things you wish you could take back. Most of the time, thankfully, your audience doesn't notice. But when you use a buzz word - in this case, "lynch" - there are certain people, and certain groups of people, who just can't wait to be offended.

In this case, Tilghman apologized, spoke with Tiger about it, he accepted the apology and considers the matter closed. The Golf Channel should, too. Instead, they suspended her for two weeks. If you agree, tell me why.

Back

Okay, then. The three month hiatus is over. A few tweaks, an updated links list, maybe a few more changes to come but, for the moment, back to blogging.