Holy Movie Review Pretending To Be Asinine Commentary, Batman!

Apparently Thomas Friedman is now quoting from The Dark Knight in an attempt to explain ISIS and Boko Haram.  An entire quarter of  his "analysis" is just lines from the movie. Dude, seriously?

Still, here's a retort worth repeating:

@AntDeRosa I swear to Zod that Friedman likely hasn't even seen Nolan's Batman films. ISIS is clearly Bane, not the Joker.
— Nicholas Slayton (@NSlayton) October 5, 2014

Razing Arizona

The completely unnecessary mess in Arizona was an embarrassment to everyone.  This is as good an analysis as any:

In a doomed effort on a superfluous bill, Arizona legislators created a political disaster for themselves, short-term damage to the business community, massive fundraising and PR victories for the Left, and a national black eye for social conservatives. Not to mention a lovely media distraction from Obamacare. 

In fact, the whole thing was so awful that I'm tempted to hatch a conspiracy theory that those Arizona legislators were Democratic infiltrators and agents provocateurs.

First they came for the piano teachers, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a piano teacher

OH, FOR PETE'S SAKE.  Doesn't this profoundly unserious government have anything better to do than harass piano teachers?

Tweet of the Day: Idiocy On Display

Remember how I've been slamming the Obama Administration for being deeply, disturbingly, delusionally unserious about foreign policy?  That meant for a little while I wasn't looking very hard at domestic policy.  Well, guess what, I'm finding equally epic unseriousness there too.  This is an actual tweet from the official White House Twitter account. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME.  

Obama and company are trying to peddle Obamacare to an increasingly skeptical nation, its initial boosters are now jumping ship, the government's having to delay piece after piece of this craptastic law's implementation, and the best you can do is caption a gorram mouse on a swing?!   And, NO, rising insurance premiums are NOT ADORABLE.  I want to slam my head against the wall.  I wish we could call for a big fat vote of no confidence.

Take it from this guy: Insurance companies can no longer put lifetime limits on your coverage (h/t @AdorableCareAct) pic.twitter.com/ToSlV7fz0l
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 26, 2013

Headline of the Day: Latest "Zero Tolerance" Idiocy

Here's the (gratifyingly snarky) headline: "6-year-old has Lego-sized toy gun on bus, everyone loses their minds."

You may recall my previous post about this sort of nonsense.

Quote of the Day: On "Zero Tolerance" Policies In Schools

Why, yes:

One of the problems with these policies is that they have this tough-sounding name (ZERO tolerance!), and enforcers of them somehow get it in their heads that their absurdly literal interpretations indicate discipline and seriousness. In reality, these actions trivialize the problem and make the administrators who enforce them look like buffoons. 

While “Zero Tolerance” does aptly describe such policies, it’s not the only name that fits. It would be just as meaningful to call them “Zero Discretion” policies, seeing as none is called for, or “Zero Responsibility” policies, since none is assumed. But clearly the best name for such rules would be “Zero Intelligence” policies, seeing as none is required or used.

I hate edu-crats.

Like Hormonal Middle Schoolers in Health Class

A sizable percentage of people in the Obama campaign is apparently obsessed with the birds and the bees.  From the DNC's weird morphing into LadyPartsFest and Birth Control-a-Palooza to the Lena Dunham "voting = sex" video to this fresh and completely creepy statement by David Axelrod, the evidence seems (to me, anyway) incontrovertible that these folks are not just crude and vulgar but unserious and desperately immature. What the heck is wrong with these people?  I mean, come on.  Oh, and Axelrod?  Here's some free advice, dude: Never ever say the word "loins" in public.  Like, EVER.

UPDATE: I just had another thought.  You know the term "NSFW" that you usually see attached to ... ah ... rather provocative images?  It applies perfectly to the Obama camp too!  It really is NOT SAFE FOR WORK.  Just look at the economy!  Unemployment figures!  

Truly, A Pressing Political Issue That Voters Care About

From the debate between the two (female) candidates for the US Senate slot from New York. So what do you think?  Sexist or no?  Or just silly and unserious (like most of the political "discourse" these days?)

This Is Why I Gave Up Writing Satire

You'll remember that only a couple days ago I said that trying to campaign on Big Bird was fundamentally unserious and worthy of scorn.  

Now I read this, and it isn't satire as far as I can tell: "'Million Muppet March' Planned to Defend PBS After Romney Big Bird Comments."  Political culture is now utterly beyond parody.

Yet Another Fool Confirms Foolishness via Twitter

My, my, my, Twitter's turning out to be a really convenient way to figure out if certain individuals are idiots or not.  I'm not even going to explain the latest revelation.  Just read this.

How to Not to Conduct Diplomatic Public Relations on Twitter

This one's going into the history books for all the wrong reasons.  How bad is it and the fallout?  Even the White House has thrown this one under the bus.  One more thing: why does Cairo senior public affairs officer Larry Schwartz still have his job?  

It reminds me of the first Mission Impossible movie's hapless official who was on the job when Ethan Hunt broke into his high-security installation; the boss replied with this instant demotion: "I want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day. Just mail him his clothes." 

LOL: How Not to Get Publicly Caught in a Huge Lie

Heh!

Nerd News: Idiocy, Preschool Edition

Stupid school policy is stupid.  Do these people really have nothing better to do than harass a 3-year-old deaf boy about his name?  SUE THESE MORONS, STAT.

Don't Be a Crazy Moon Landing Conspiracy Theorist, Or Buzz Aldrin Will Feed You a Knuckle Sandwich

You know, I really wish I didn't have to post things like this, but in the wake of Neil Armstrong's passing, a bunch of idiots are rehashing the moon landing conspiracy theory.  This is a huge collection of debunking, including the guys from Mythbusters and Buzz Aldrin himself, who proves himself an even bigger glorious badass than I had previously thought - a feat I had not thought was possible.  Note also: that conspiracy nut absolutely got what he deserved.  What, you go up to an American hero who trained like mad and put his life in jeopardy on Apollo 11 and proceed to accuse him of being a liar and a coward?  Idjit.  We love you, Buzz!

The Oatmeal Saga Continues

The end of Operation BearLove Good, Cancer Bad has turned out not to be the end of cartoonist Matt "the Oatmeal" Inman's ongoing hassle with Charles Carreon, the most annoying lawyer ever and today's pick for "dirtbag dujour."  Here's a tale of two legal actions. 

LOL: the EU's Hilarrible Ad for Women Scientists

Apparently this is not a joke.  This really is the EU's attempt to encourage girls to study science.  Come on, really?  Some ladies are not amused.  I laughed out loud, though.  It's so blatantly stupid.  Dude, they replaced the "i" in "science" with a lipstick!  Here's the actual website.  

Look, I'm on the record on this blog saying that girls should feel free to be themselves in academia, and if "being themselves" means enjoying nice shoes and clothes and whatever, then that's great!  My point is that you should feel free to express your femininity and your personality however you please instead of constraining yourself inside someone else's arbitrary expectations ("you have to look like a frump in order to be taken seriously," etc.)  At the same time, I don't think you should construct yourself as a sexpot to order to get attention.  Your work should speak for itself. This EU propaganda, though, isn't about that at all.  The geniuses behind this would have done better to appeal to the intellect and highlight actual women scientists past and present ... oh, you know, people like Ada Lovelace or Marie Curie or Rosalind Franklin or Barbara McClintock or the growing number of female astronauts or ... You get the picture.  Oh, and see this too as long as we're talking about scientific stereotypes.

 

Nerd News: Too Much Cheering at Graduation = No Diploma

Oh, come on!  This is stupid.

Quote of the Day from Euroland: "The Greeks seem to have no understanding of the seriousness of their predicament."

Tragedy morphs into farce.  

Ridiculous: UK Poll Reveals Qualities of "the Perfect Guy"

I have no idea just how this British survey of some women was conducted and all, but it doesn't matter.  I can already tell you that the results are ludicrous. Look at this: "86% say they want a man who is sensitive, calls his mother regularly and cries during films."  Oh, please. I don't know about you, but I don't want some touchy, prissy mama's boy who likes The Notebook.

Oh, and I just love this comment left on the story:

This is ridiculous. As someone else stated, if there were a "perfect woman" poll (which there probably will be), women all over the world would be [FURIOUS]. Such a waste of time ... why did I read this article?

Headline Shenanigans at NPR

*eye roll*  Our self-proclaimed intellectual betters can be real idiots.