Month: August 2005

The Aristocrats: Obscene outrage, or comedic triumph?

Or both? The Kansas City Star discusses[*1] :

It is by all accounts the world’s filthiest joke. Filthy not because of what’s in it, but because nothing is in it, and each teller is expected to dredge his darkest recesses to fill it up.

A man walks into a theatrical agent’s office and announces that he has the most amazing family act ever. He then goes on to describe an unyieldingly lurid performance involving himself, his wife, their young children and perhaps a grandparent and a family pet. No bodily function goes unmentioned, no sexual perversion is omitted.

When it’s over the agent is aghast: “That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard. What do you call this act?”

The man swells with pride: “The Aristocrats.”

Hey, it’s got Penn and Teller in it. Snookums and I may have to go check it out for ourselves . . .

All Over the Ellsworth AFB story

South Dakota Politics[*1] blog is there . . .

Yours truly, wearing my political science hat, is quoted saying much the same thing as I have said here. Thune received more grief than he deserved when the base was put on this list and perhaps will receive too much attention now that it has been taken off. Still, Thune will no doubt benefit politically from this event.

Much good local flavor there (and national, too, the Kos v. SDP blog argument is pretty amusing).

When at the London Zoo, don’t miss the Human Exhibit

Mommy, what’s the funny man doing[*1] ?

The exhibit, which opened Friday, puts the three male and five female Homo sapiens side by side with their primate relatives — though separated from them by an electric fence. While their neighbors might enjoy bananas and a good scratch, these eight — chosen from 30 applicants who entered an online contest — have diverse interests, from a chemist hoping to raise awareness about apes to a self-described actor/model and fitness enthusiast.

Sadly, the exhibit only runs through Monday. Maybe the Kansas City Zoo could do this–it would be more fun than their “White Tiger” thing they’ve been running all summer.

General Richard Myers goes off

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs expresses frustration[*1] with the “national leadership’s” inability to get the message out:

“I think it’s incumbent on the national leadership, writ large, to help communicate this to the American public,” said Myers, reporting on a 10-day, 18-base tour that included Iraq,Afghanistan and bases in Asia and Europe.

See also People close to Iraq soldiers support war more.

The Moronic Convergence

How the loony left and the wacko right are coming together[*1] to oppose the war against militant Islam:

An anguished Cindy Sheehan calls Bush “the world’s biggest terrorist.” And she goes on to blame Israel for the death of her son (“Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel”).

Her antiwar venom could easily come right out of the mouth of a more calculating David Duke. Perhaps that’s why he lauded her anti-Semitism: “Courageously she has gone to Texas near the ranch of President Bush and braved the elements and a hostile Jewish supremacist media.”

Via Little Green Footballs[*2] .James Taranto at OpinionJournal’s Best of the Web has also struck on the Harmonic Convergence parallel[*3]

In a speech to supporters Wednesday, Sheehan claimed the support of “tens of thousands of angels.” The Associated Press reports that New York racial demagogue Al Sharpton plans to join Sheehan in Texas on Sunday, while the neo-Nazi Web site Stormfront.org says its backers will arrive tomorrow to “help put up a White Nationalist voice in the protest against Bush’s War for Israel that was started by Cindy Sheehan.”

Next, according to blogger Jonathan Wilson: “Celebrity boxing with Tonya Harding.” The universe certainly has a sense of humor.

This would be funny if the stakes weren’t so high.

People close to Iraq soldiers support war more

An AP poll[*1] calls into serious question the myriad of editorial decisions of the mainstream media on the Iraq war:

People with friends or relatives serving in Iraq are more likely than others to have a positive view of a generally unpopular war, an AP- Ipsos poll found.

Some of those surveyed said their relationships with troops helped them learn more about what’s going on in Iraq beyond the violence. Others said their opinions of the war were shaped by a sense of loyalty to those in harm’s way.

Do you suppose this might affect the daily Deathwatch of the major media?

“How many helpless soldier children died today, Wolf?”

Naahhhh…

Via Little Green Footballs[*2] .

Chinese try to get chimp to quit smoking

Via Yahoo News[*1] :

The 26-year-old female chimpanzee has been smoking for 15 years. Her mate died recently, which caused her to smoke even more.

How does a chimp start smoking in the first place? Getting together with her buddies behind the schoolhouse? Late nights over a red beer in a smoky bar? Out in the playground at recess time?

Google News is broken

This is what happens when you have an automated news headline generator that draws on a database of news sources hand-selected by left wing lunatics

Click here[*1] . (Via Little Green Footballs.)

Any more, I only use Google News to find a good article on a subject I already want to write about. As a news aggregation source, it’s useless.