There’s a video making the rounds that’s causing a considerable stink around the interwebs, enough that it even got a segment on the Glen Beck show where it fit seamlessly into the vast left-wing conspiracy. The teeth-gnashing and angst about this video may not be quite comprehensible to those of Read more…
UPDATE: Turns out the “official” 60K-70K figure wasn’t so official. In fact it was some guy talking out his ass. (Still working on fixing this blog, sheesh.) UPDATE: Some less questionable figures here. Don’t you wish the MSM could do basic math? We had somewhere between seventy thousand and two Read more…
Van Jones has quit the Obama administration, so apparently I can’t use him to point out to people that, no, actually this really is a radical left administration. It’s a shame, because it was really interesting to hear the rationalizations when someone says that “no this really is a center Read more…
Let’s get Meta. There’s a meme running around teh interwebz trying to explain the implosion of healthcare reform, the upshot of which is Democrats are pussies and can’t fight trench warfare against the ominous Rove-inspired disinformation machine. Apparently they are so weak-willed that a ex-Governor who lost a VP bid Read more…
Of all the crap the U.S. Government spends money on, the National Endowment of the Arts is probably one of the least offensive. When someone comes around and calls for eliminating funding for it, they come across often as either petty or too easily offended. Two main complaints rear their Read more…
Nancy Pelosi faces a horrifying disruption at a town hall meeting (here via here): By the way, speaking of Democrats revising their publicly declared policy positions: We all know that all this “Death Panel” stuff is crazy talk, hell Obama himself has called such arguments “dishonest,” problem is, he’s also Read more…
Strangely enough, I try not to demonize and/or ridicule people for their political beliefs. When I hand out asshats, I’m doing so for statements and actions that define a universal Platonic ideal of stupidity. So Pelosi is here not because of her political views, which I find the philosophical equivalent Read more…
So the AP still doesn’t “get” fair use. Or they don’t want to get it. According to Tom Curley, AP’s chief executive: The company’s position was that even minimal use of a news article online required a licensing agreement with the news organization that produced it. … He specifically cited Read more…
A friend has called me out as a dupe because (gasp) a conservative foundation has launched an anti-Obamacare patient advocacy group and has been called out (oh noes) by some progressive leftist public interest organizations and blogs. Wow, one set of highly organized partisans deeply invested in the outcome of a political issue are dismissive of their opposition because it might (gasp) involve a set of highly organized partisans deeply invested in the contrary outcome of same political issue. Whoda thunk?
Perhaps more germane is the fact that using the involvement of partisan organizations in any political protest to invalidate the protest itself is a distraction. It is a feat of rhetorical legerdemain that allows one to sidestep the argument by pointing at people with complaints and saying, “oh they aren’t sincere,” “they don’t know what they’re talking about,” without dealing with the legitimacy of their complaints. Oh, someone somewhere might have given someone some funding, we don’t have to listen to them.
It’s also kind of illustrative of the echo chamber effect. In the Wonk Room post linked above they use the following language:
After orchestrating and funding the so-called Tea Parties movement, Americans for Prosperity — a nationwide front group founded and funded by the right-wing polluter Koch Industries — is launching an ad campaign characterizing President Obama’s effort to reform the health care system as a government take-over that will ration care and care and deny treatments.
Wow, you can see why my friend Steve thought I was a dupe. According to that graph, the evil “Americans for Prosperity” are the invisible hand behind the whole tea party movement. (BTW isn’t it asinine to use “So-Called” when you’re already using the word’s “Tea Party” as a slur. Or are there some ligit form of “Tea Party” you want to distinguish? Oh well, moving on.) If you follow the first link, though, you find that:
Despite these attempts to make the “movement” appear organic, the principle organizers of the local events are actually the lobbyist-run think tanks Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works.
Okay, sloppy language in the first post, they obviously meant that Americans for Prosperity was only one of two “principle organizers.” (Weasel word alert. Define the level of support required to make a “principle organizer.” How many tea parties do you have to organize? All? Half? 25%? A dozen? Six? ) So what have they done? Well Freedom Works’ sinister plans involve a trio of websites (apparently you can make a web site look “amateurish” by having a slick flash intro, good to know) distributing literature, and advice on sign construction. Americans for Prosperity went so far to hide their hand in the movement by posting a half-dozen events on their website. Damn them!
And her name is Janeane Garofalo. Hear me out here. Kaufman’s genius, or his insanity, was to blur the line between performance and reality to the point where the audience’s reaction (is this really happening? Is this guy serious?) becomes part of the act. Unlike some latter-day acts (can you Read more…