Tag Archives: Sharron Angle

J’accuse! No More Punctuation Funny Stuff!!!


Posted by Omnipotent Poobah
Signs of the Times

SIGNS OF THE TIMES! - Jeb Bush has gotten all huffy about candidate Deb Gianoulis stealing his font mojo! Still, there's no truth to the rumor that Jeb has trademarked the blue sky and God!!!

In a political season that’s farcical at best, it’s hard to beat Christine “The First Amendment Really Says That?” O’Donnell, Sharron “They All Look Alike to Me” Angle, or Daniel “Unhappy Hour” Webster for sheer laughs! But, someone has and unsurprisingly it’s a Bush – the supposed “smart” one, Jeb!

Jebster’s attorney, Willy Wiley Horton, sent a cease and desist order to Deborah Gianoulis, a former TV anchor running against state Republican party chair John Thrasher in Florida’s Senate District 8 race!

Her heinous crime: Violation of federal trademark law!

It seems the dangerous outlaw, “Kid” Gianoulis, had the unmitigated gall to put her name on a red background followed by an exclamation point!

“You appear to be using the same font and color scheme as has been used by the lawful owner [Bush] … for at least the past 16 years,” Horton exclaimed! He didn’t mention why this was any of Bush’s business since Gianoulis was running against some other Republican crapweasel!

Now it seems implausible that political signage – creative whirlwinds they are – are that easy to copyright! If you’re a Republican, your sign is red! If you’re a Democrat, your sign is blue! If you’re a girl, you wear a pink hairband! If you’re a boy, you wear blue Underoos!

Jeb!

VOTE FER JEB! - Kids, how many differences can you find in these two pictures?!!!

Your name appears in large, contrasting, bold letters as befitting any egotistical buffoon running for office! If you’re really wild and crazy you might festoon your eyesore with something evocative of a flag! Though oddly, never the flag itself!

Someone must have trademarked stars and stripes!

Oh, and contrary to popular belief, Obama campaign signs didn’t feature a hammer and sickle or Kenyan flag!

So here are the facts:

  • By my calculations, both signs appear to be the same color, except for lighting conditions, ink variations, color blindness, and whether you use Web-safe colors…just like a zillion other signs on the planet!
  • Despite Horton’s claim, the fonts are different in that subtle way that fonts often are! The differences are so slight it’s like doing the Sunday kid’s cartoon where you spot the number of mistakes in 2 nearly identical pictures! Hint for the clueless: Look at the “e”!
  • Aside from the general lameness of the language’s most useless punctuation, the exclamation point, it seems that Jeb is infringing on the trademark of Hamilton!, OH! Take that Jeb with your fancy, trademarked slanted “e”!
  • The Gianoulis campaign already stopped using the design quite some time ago – probably because of falling poll ratings for the goobs who couldn’t tell “Jeb!” from “Deb!”! Remember, this is a state where they can’t operate paper ballots!

The Gianoulis campaign responded to the kerfuffle, with “we have more important things to worry about, like the economy and education!”

Oh please DEB! You’ll never get anywhere in the political game thinking like that!!!!!!!!!!

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The Ignorati are Becoming the New Ruling Elite


Posted by Omnipotent Poobah

The Ignoratti

One frequent criticism from many on the right is that “the elites” run the country. And as with many things the right does and says, it does it without seeing the tiniest speck of irony. The irony being that in their unrelenting war on education and intellectualism, they are becoming the new elite running the country.

America was once a land of mostly illiterate agricultural workers – a whole country of disadvantaged migrant farm workers like the right so hates today. But those agricultural workers realized – like the migrant workers of today – that education was the way to pull themselves and the country out of the intellectual dark ages. Unschooled and sometimes illiterate parents made many sacrifices to educate their kids to develop the raw knowledge and skill to move themselves and the country forward.

Insane Amounts of Belly Button Gazing
The right may have a point that a society too dependent on intellectualism is a society frozen by insane amounts of belly button gazing and an over-dependence on books at the expense of the real world. But that is where the point ends.

Dumbsters

"Mr. Osbourne, may I be excused? My brain is full."

Successful societies need thinkers and doers because a society without thinkers doesn’t have the ability to help provide the knowledge and technology to the doers. The growing attack on intellectualism works like a photocopier that has made a copy from a copy from a copy. Each succeeding generation gets weaker and weaker until, at last, the final copy becomes unreadable.

Over the past few decades, the right has been unrelentingly chipping away at our educational infrastructure. From the abysmal Every Child Left Behind Act, to a steadfast refusal to approve taxes for schools, to rewriting textbooks to follow Christian teachings rather than actual history or science, we’ve reached a tipping point where we can no longer function. Instead of bellyaching about the minimum wage, that money and time would be better spent figuring out how to improve education than to fixate on obliterating it. Give people knowledge and we wouldn’t need to set a minimum wage.

Then Came the Ignorati
This nation is well on its way to becoming an anti-intellectual wasteland ruled by the ignorati instead of the intelligentsia or the commonsentsia. We’ve produced a crop of “leaders” without the good sense to come in out of the rain. The Christine O’Donnells, Sarah Palins, Sharron Angles, and Michele Bachmanns of the world recoil at the mention of anything requiring more thought than their many bubbleheaded Tweets.

Present the ignorati with immutable facts and they’re congenitally unable to process them. Producing an Obama birth certificate 47 ways from Sunday (along with assurances of its legitimacy from the Republican governor of Hawaii) and their answer is, “but it isn’t the right birth certificate”. They refuse to believe scientific data only to assure us the world is merely 6,000 years old. And, the list goes on.

You don’t have to be an egghead to see this problem. You don’t have to belong to the intelligentsia. You don’t even have to be a moderately intelligent person with a poor education. You only need to do this:

Listen to speeches by the leaders of the ignorigentcia and openly think about what they say – lest you become its newest member of their elite.

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How Many J-Words Can Dance on the Tip of a Tongue?


Posted by Omnipotent Poobah
Sanchez and Stewart at Odds

HEY RICK! FOX MIGHT HAVE AN OPENING FOR YOU! - Rick Sanchez is clearly not the sharpest pundit in the shed and going up against Jon Stewart was a monumental error. But an error worth canning him for?

CNN’s Rick Sanchez decided to go toe-to-toe with faux newser Jon Stewart and suffered the same fate as the last CNNer to do so – Tucker Carlson. However in the aftermath, we have a sort of “how many J-Words can dance on the tip of the tongue” argument brewing.

Stewart had been doing to Sanchez what he’s done to so many others for weeks – made fun of him. It’s the penalty one pays when one is famous and says dumb things. It’s all too easy for Stewart’s crack staff to find double-speak video and other public statements to hold crapweasels up to ridicule. I think Stewart’s brand of ridicule, despite its definite bite, is far less passionate than Keith Olbermann‘s skewers of the famous and inane. One gets the sense that Jon knows it’s a joke while Olbermann actually believes his targets are the Worst Persons in the World.

But then, I ain’t famous so what do I know?

Punking Yourself
If you live under the glare of studio lights and talk for a living – incessantly – you’ll punk yourself occasionally. It happens. And when it does, you have to either have a great sense of humor or develop tough skin, because the dumber you are, the more you’ll be held up to ridicule. Exhibits A-D, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Christine O’Donnell, and Sharron Angle, et al.

Sanchez’s skin is apparently as thin as John McTheusela’s, as is the skin of Sanchez’s CNN overlords. Sanchez let the J-Bombs fly, CNN fired him, he apologized to Stewart soon after and Jon and Rick rode into the sunset, at least if not BFFs, OK with things. And, Christopher Hitchens takes up Sanchez’s cause.

Hitchens? Really? Famous crusading atheist? Has cancer?

One in the same.

Hitchens argues that Sanchez’s anti-Jewish statements are literally true. Despite the anti-semitic overtones, he says Jews (along with white Christians) actually are disproportionately represented in media and entertainment boardrooms. To Hitchens, Sanchez simply stated a fact no more problematic than saying African Americans are under-represented. And as boneheaded as Hitchens often is, he has a point. But, it was never about THAT point and it isn’t a necessarily a socially polite thing to say.

It all boils down to a “who can safely say the N-word, or in this case, the J-word”. Sure, Sanchez was unbelievably stupid, but if we’re going to fire every TV personality who’s stupid, TV would consist of lots of HD snow and annoying test pattern buzz.

But, you could make an argument that would be an improvement.

Not a White Supremacist Candidate
I personally find Sanchez annoying and I suspect his assumed anti-semitism may be real to some degree, although, barring any information to the contrary,  I’m not so sure he’d be a good candidate for your neighborly white supremacist enclave.

I don’t condone what he said. In fact, I don’t think it is as literally true as Hitchens does either. But, I’m not sure if it’s a firing offense when put in context.

Sanchez did the right thing in calling Stewart to apologize – though he wimped out by letting his wife announce it to the public on Facebook. Everyone might have been better served if the apology was both personal and public. A true mea culpa with some teeth – perhaps a show or series of shows devoted to anti-semitism coupled with some work with Jewish charities and up close and personal exposure to Jewish people. The Jewish religion believes in atonement, and this would be an earthly one to be sure, but atonement nonetheless.

If Sanchez refused to do these things, if his superiors had to co-opt him to do them – in a very public way – they, and those calling for his resignation, would have every right to say, “don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.” Or, if he did it again, ala Mel Gibson, away with him. No one has to cut the man some slack and some believe no one should.

But we might all learn a little about ourselves and each other if we did.

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Randomness: Blinded With Science Style


Posted by Omnipotent Poobah


Bohemian Rhapsody on Slide Whistle – With Kazoo Accompaniment

Blinded By Science

Criminal Darwin Awards

This Invasion of the Robots Thing is Getting Serious

On Second Thought, Maybe That Darwin Dude WAS Wrong

F-U

FICKLE FINGER OF FATE - Sharron Angle, this one's for you. Click photo for more >>

En Garde, Dildos at 20 Paces

Sometimes You Just Gotta Worry About the Japanese

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Christine O’Donnell: Dear God, Change Your Mind


Posted by Omnipotent Poobah
Sadness

IT'S SAD - For every person praying for Christine O'Donnell to win the election, there are others asking The Big Guy to stop her. Only time will tell whose side God will be on.

During her short time on the political stage, Christine O’Donnell has generated such incredible buffoonery she could start an “All Christine, All the Time” cable channel. Rupert Murdoch might want to talk to her about it. They seem to be made for each other – a win/win of biblically crapulent, synergistic proportions.

Almost everything that comes out of Chritine’s mouth is hilarious. Sometimes it’s in a Gracie Allen bubblehead sort of  way – “Hey, I dabbled in the witchcraft. My oh my, silly old me!” Sometimes it’s in a weird Kids in the Hall sort of way – “I’ll crrrrush your head and your evil masturbating ways too!” But, she actually believes some of the gooferous stuff she says and expects the rest of us to as well.

Her latest political/religious clone of a statement rivals her contention that scientists have developed mice with human brains. After taking her campaign lumps repeatedly, and responded with a series of demonstrably untrue statements or dubious “facts”, she still hasn’t gotten the kind of uncritical, Sharron Angle-style “leave me alone and don’t embarrass me” coverage she craves – or as media-savvy Sharron says, “I only want them to ask the questions I want to answer.”

Bring Out the Big Guy

Who, Me?

WHO, ME? - "God are you sure I'm the one you're picking? When you called, I thought maybe it was a wrong number."

“OUCH!” It’s time to bring out the Big Guy, personal friend and savior of non-Muslim Tea Partiers and Republicans everywhere.

Christine stopped by the Christian Broadcasting Network to explain why she stays in a political race that is turning her into a laughing stock.

As often happens with religious zealots dressed in right wing, fringe-bedecked vestments, she said God didn’t wanna let her quit. “…you see that if it weren’t for faith, when all logic said it’s time to quit, we pursued, we marched on, because we knew God was not releasing us to quit,” she said, referring to herself in the third person.

Christine, you’d have been better off to stop at logic before playing the God card.

As a young man questioning my own faith, I used to think about the many inconsistencies I saw in religious dogma. For example, if two football teams prayed before a game to win, how was it possible for one team to win, the other to lose, and not question how one  got short-changed on their “faith” and fervent prayers that they would win?

My religious betters gave many reasons for this, most of them seeming  specious to me.

“Obviously, one team believed more strongly and therefore God granted them their wish,” went one explanation. “God was demonstrating that not all prayers come true, even if you fervently do your best to make them happen,” went another. When the answers I got didn’t seem to match the questions I had, I was often treated to the all-purpose, “God works in mysterious ways,” explanation.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with believing there is no contradiction there. There’s nothing wrong with believing you got the short end of the political coverage stick – even while not considering the stupid things you’ve said. However, there is something troubling about blaming illogical decisions on God.

It’s Unfair to God
First, it’s unfair to God to put him in such a tenuous position. He has enough problems. Second, it gives you a convenient out every time something doesn’t go your way. “Hey, it wasn’t my fault. I talked to the Big Guy and he said it was OK for me to fudge my educational background“. Or, George the Lesser’s penchant for “talking to God” only to be told everything was hunky dory and he should just keep on keeping on as the country went to hell around him.

There’s a reason it’s good advice to not mix religion and politics. More often than not, one has nothing – as in Christine’s case – with the other. It’s also common that biblical explanations often doesn’t hold much sway with voters, even devoutly religious ones.  And when you say that you talked to God and he told you that it’s perfectly OK to, say, deprive Muslims of the same constitutional rights you reserve for yourself, many people are going to think your celestial cell phone needs some repair.

There is a place for religion in politics, just as there is a place for politics in the pulpit. However, in the middle of a campaign where your are partially representing yourself as God’s chosen candidate, you’re out of bounds and it’s unlikely you’ll feel the need to represent the majority of us who want to keep their politics and religion unmixed if you are elected.

Let’s just hope God changes his mind.

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