The TSA announced yesterday that it was loosening up restrictions on bulky head-wear and turbans no longer necessitating a search (unless the aforementioned head-gear sets off the metal detector). I found a gem of a quote in an MSNBC article discussing the change:
Experts say mixing up the screening techniques is good security. “We must use security measures that are unpredictable, agile,” TSA Administrator Kip Hawley told a Senate panel Tuesday.
What a total crock of shit. Since when has the TSA been “agile” or anything short of reactionary? All of the current annoyances amount to nothing but gross incompetence and lack of vision, i.e., taking off your shoes, limiting your gels and liquids, taking out your laptop, no matches/lighters, taking off your bra in public (yep they have made people do it), etc etc. None of these measures were pro-active or based off of intelligence, they were reactions to loonies.Â
“I think [her comments] are highly calculated,” said Liam O’Brien, an expert in media criticism and pop culture at Quinnipiac University. “I’m not sure she knows what trigger on which verbal gun she is going to pull at any given moment, but I think at any particular time, she has three or four of these things that are controversial and inflammatory enough to get national press notice above and beyond whatever the topic is of her book or the talk show.”
Coincidence or not, a few of Coulter’s book releases have, in fact, coincided with a remark that has ignited a media frenzy.
Big surprise, unfortunately, her base of extreme right wing morons and village idiots will still buy her books. Let’s hope the Coulter haters wake up and stop giving her the attention and stop buying her books. People need to start expressing their opinions with their wallets.
I love watching Fox News and other media type folks slip up, especially when the slip-up is Freudian in nature. I wonder what was on her mind this morning? The best part about this clip is the reaction of the field reporter.Â
First it was smoking bans, seat-belt laws and a myriad of seemingly benign legislation bent on controlling society at the cost of your personal freedom. Now it is baggy pants. Yep, baggy pants. Are you serious? As if there isn’t enough going on in our world, let alone our communities, that baggy pants are an issue. All across the country these types of legislation are either in place now or in the proposal phase. The elected officials are attempting to make a positive correlation between baggy pants and crime. Here a couple of blurbs from a recent ABCnews.com article on the subject:
“If we have kids going around wearing pants below their butts, it’s not nice, not decent,” says Timothy Holmes, a city commissioner in Opa-locka, Fla.
In Atlanta, City Councilman C.T. Martin says he’s trying to raise standards and instill values in today’s youth.
“Bill Cosby started this conversation, and we let him down,” Martin says, referring to the comedian’s controversial criticism of the parenting skills, grammar and values of poor blacks.
Laws like this are extremely dangerous, I agree with Cosby, it goes back to parenting, you can’t legislate your way out of this. Just because you wear a mini-skirt, it doesn’t make you a whore, the same goes with baggy pants (the crime part that is, not your inclination to be a whore).
Ann Coulter made the news again Friday with her comments that “we want Jews to be perfected”. Ann has increasingly said and has been quoted with absurd cartoon-like radical right wing sentiments. Her latest can be seen in a CNN.com article quoted:
Asked by CNBC host Donny Deutsch what the U.S. looks like in her dreams, Coulter said it would look like the Republican National Convention in 2004
“People were happy,†she said, according to a transcript provided to CNN by CNBC. “They’re Christian. They’re tolerant. They defend America.” When Deutsch responded, “It would be better if we were all Christian?” Coulter said “Yeah.”
Deutsch, himself Jewish, continued to press Coulter on her remarks, asking, “We should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians then?”
“Yeah,” Coulter responded, adding “Well, it’s a lot easier. It’s kind of a fast track.”
“Do you know what Christianity is?” Coulter replied. “See, we believe your religion, but you have to obey. We have the fast track program.”
In my opinion, Coulter is now officially playing a character, she is a satire of her former self. Coulter knows her place and it is a niche that plays to the extreme right wing, and she knows this caricature that she is playing will make the press and sell books. And, like Howard Stern, make enough controversy and the people that hate you will buy your books too. I liken it to Jessica Simpson on her former reality show, she played up the ditsy blond thing for the cameras because it worked and made it popular.
I recently returned from a week-long conference/seminar hosted in one of the Disney resort hotels and have come to the conclusion that Disney really sucks. Now there are typically two schools of thought regarding the previous statement, 1) guys like me who will say “no shit”, and 2) Soccer Mom’s who will be appalled that I dare criticize “the mouse”. The conference I attended was top notch, the suckiness I’m referring to is in regards to Disney in general. As I mentioned previously, I stayed at one of the resort hotels, I won’t mention it by name but it is named after a sea-faring mammal that can perform tricks and people seem to like.  I have laid out a few examples below to prove my point.
The first example is pretty much a no-brainer but worth mentioning, Disney exists to part your money from your person. We all know this but it is worthwhile to cover the basics.
Hotel room was in the upper $300’s per night after taxes, more taxes, hidden taxes, fees, more fees, hidden fees, and mouse pedicure fees
I made the mistake of ordering breakfast room-service the first morning I was there. Breakfast consisted of A bagel, bowl of corn flakes, toast, OJ, and hot coco (from a pouch). Total cost, $47, before tip.
Parking fee $16 per night… at first blush this might not seem excessive, but Disney owns half of Florida, with that much space there is no premium for parking, just a captive audience.
Internet fee, $15 per day, with the high room costs, why isn’t this baked in? And the speed was slightly better than dial-up, as an example, youtube clips couldn’t stream.
Mixed drink at the lobby bar, $12
People are too friendly. Why is this a problem you might ask? Because it is fake friendly, and there is an underlying “fuck you” lurking beneath the surface of most interactions. After the third “Have a magical day” spoken from a pimply faced punk, who was dying to say it, I was annoyed.
It is 95 degrees with 100% humidity in October.
The room wasn’t spectacular, I’ve been in hotels all over the world, and for this price the room wasn’t great.Â
I actually had to request a room change for the first time in memory after I found a cockroach the size of baby’s head.Â
In the new room, the AC was broken. I didn’t feel like moving again so I dealt with it.Â
The bed was shaped like a U and you sunk into the middle after an hour.
On the positive side, the view was really good and I had two balconies. I had a view of the Epcot “ball” and could see the nightly fireworks from my balcony.
It seemed that Orlando and the state were in on the fleecing, there are two main approaches to the airport and both are covered with multiple tolls to and from the Disney lair. In fact the most direct route to Disney has a higher toll fee than the longer route.
I love the cut-aways from Family Guy, this may be attributed to the fact that I have the attention span of a hummingbird on Red Bull… oh look something shiny! Anywho, this is one of my favorites. What if Jaws was written from a Rainbow perspective? Enjoy…
After last quarter’s unexpected success in the fundraising space (just over $5 million clams), Ron Paul benefited with increased buzz and “free” advertisement with the mainstream media. Because of this the campaign has redoubled it’s efforts and has made the quarter 4 target $12 million bucks translating to $4 million every month. I personally hate it when people tell me I have goals that are too lofty or that I couldn’t do something, however this new target for fundraising begs the question… is it attainable? I am pulling for him and will contribute to the cause this quarter, but to make his numbers they are going to have to pour on the new/incremental support, his base can only contribute so much. If you are interested in contributing, just click this link.
Relationships with Turkey have been strained due to a House resolution to label the World War I massacre of Armenians by Turkey “genocide”. According to a CNN.com article regarding this matter, Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the US, and Turkey has not allowed France to fly over it’s airspace since a similar resolution was passed there last year.  Turkey’s response to the resolution was:
A top Turkish official warned Thursday that consequences “won’t be pleasant” if the full House approves the resolution.
Why are we so stupid? The US was not involved in the Armenian-Turkey conflict during WWI and Turkey is currently a NATO ally and critical access point for the US in the middle east. There is little good to be gleaned from this resolution, why doesn’t the House of Reps just fly over to Turkey and take a big stinking shit on the Prime Minister’s lawn, it would probably be less offensive. The issue here isn’t whether there was actual genocide or not, but rather why are we getting involved now after 90 years… we need a better foreign policy in this country.
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