In this column for The Nation Eric Alterman nicely sums up the case against FOX.  Their “news” product simply isn’t journalism, and the Obama Administration is right to confront them.

Alterman also calls out media hacks who have so little regard for their own profession that they’ll defend a straight-up propaganda outfit:

Howard Kurtz, whose talent for clueless conventional thinking is exceeded only by his ability to juggle his myriad conflicts of interest, thinks Obama’s reaction to Fox is no different from JFK’s complaints about the Herald Tribune, LBJ’s unhappiness with the New York Times and various (and endless) Republican attacks on the media, so he finds it “no surprise that the Obama White House isn’t happy with its coverage and is battling back.” Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawik professes to hear “echoes of Nixon-Agnew” in the Obama White House and then accuses the administration of failing to “respect press freedom.” The Times’s David Carr concludes, “So far, the only winner in this latest dispute seems to be Fox News. Ratings are up 20 percent this year, and the network basked for a week in the antagonism of a sitting president.”

Look, here’s the deal, kids: The mainstream media, far from being “liberal”, is always just a shot away from a right-wing takeover.  McCarthyism was before my time, but I am — unfortunately — an expert on the media’s collaboration in the nineties with Ken Starr, Tom DeLay and a rogue’s gallery of Republican “ratfuckers” and far-right hate merchants in a single-minded campaign to destroy Bill Clinton.

Jeff Gerth of The New York Times got the ball rolling with his bogus Whitewater reporting, and pretty soon Chris Matthews and Michael Isikoff were in bed (not literally, I don’t think) with Linda Tripp, Kathleen Willey and Lucianne Goldberg.  (If you don’t know these names, you missed quite a spectacle.  Believe me, between Monica Lewinski and O. J. Simpson, I didn’t have time for much else!)  It all led to an impeachment that seems completely ridiculous only a few years later.  Even wingnuts don’t want to talk about it.

For a time in those days of insanity, you couldn’t go to the networks or to The New York Times or to Newsweek for any honest reporting.  You had to consult — more names again! — Gene Lyons or Bob “Daily Howler” Somerby or — I kid you not — Geraldo Rivera! – to find anything that couldn’t have come straight from the Republican National Committee.

Mainstream media pundits today want to defend FOX News because they themselves used to be in the same rotten business.  And they’d have no problem going back to the right-wing extremist well, if the times seemed to demand it.

It’s too late in your pathetic career, Joe, to be running this kind of smack:

If the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote, because I believe the debt can break America and send us into a recession that’s worse than the one we’re fighting our way out of today. I don’t want to do that to our — to our children and grandchildren.  [Emphasis added]

As Ted DiBiase used to say, “Every man has his price,” and Harry Reid knows yours.  So save the high-horse moralizing for the next time Bill Clinton gets fellated.  Nobody gives a shit about your rent-a-conscience.

No, I’m not Monica Lewinsky writing under a pseudonym. (Although if you’re out there Monica, I’ve always wanted to meet you. Please drop me a line.)

No, this is the latest creative video from our friends from Japan.

I was tipped to this video by following Josh Fruhlinger’s twitter feed. He’s the guy behind Comics Curmudgeon, which I follow religiously. Josh described the video as:

Greatest video of all time, fan-made Japanese political porn videogame trailer division.

I can’t top that.

Please watch.

My blog (this blog) is not very heavily traveled.  That’s okay…while I’d love for thousands to hang on my every word, I really just have this here for some occasional venting where my family and co-workers aren’t going to see it.

I started this blog in May 2008, I think, and I’ve had 566 total views.  I’ve only had 59 people look at this in 2009 to date. (and it’s November)

My busiest day saw 14 people look at my blog — woo.  I’ve averaged 2 views per day in 2008, and, um, 0 per day in 2009.

So my experiment is this:

I have loaded this entry with every lewd, crude, disgusting, adult tag I can think of, and I want to see how many hits this post gets.  I apologize to my viewer, if they are offended.  If I have a viewer.  The average says I don’t.

Non ne parlo. Salto a piè pari il fosso dei temi dominanti: “escort“, calzini e bisogni sessuali di politici e giornalisti. Non faccio distinguo e non generalizzo. E’ su questa via che si tende a costringere la riflessione. Non so né voglio sapere se il caso sia diverso, se in fondo “questo è il mondo“, se il più bravo è chi lascia o è migliore chi resta.
Non è questo che conta.
Il tragico fango di Messina è povera cosa di fronte alla melma in cui stiamo affondando. Politica e sesso hanno avuto da sempre rapporti più o meno stretti. Per Cleopatra Marco Antonio perse tutto, l’onore, la gloria e la vita; le regine sopportarono “favorite” e “cocottes” e i sovrani ignorarono amanti e cicisbei. In America un Kennedy si giocò la presidenza, ma gli americani, per ritornare ad oggi, non hanno consentito a nessuno di seppellire sotto un letamaio la bandiera a stelle e strisce solo perché la “stagista” Monica Lewinski aveva avuto rapporti sessuali col presidente Clinton. Qui da noi, al contrario, c’è chi spinge il Paese nel fango e non ci ribelliamo.

La cronaca è breve e giova ricordare. Per un caso che è stato solo personale, la moglie del Presidente del Consiglio, tradita, delusa e nauseata, ci mette sull’avviso: attorno al marito ruota un meccanismo di scambio diffuso, efficiente, capillare e collaudato. Sesso in cambio di carriere politiche, spasso e scialo per un successo televisivo. Ed è stato subito chiaro: qui da noi, il cuore del problema non sono “stagiste” e prostitute, ma la prostituzione del Paese. Qui da noi, il Presidente del Consiglio non è solo un capopartito che guida la maggioranza, ma anche un fior d’imprenditore, un editore ingordo e straripante e l’imputato perenne in processi per corruzione. Il cuore del problema, qui da noi, sono le conseguenze di questa aberrazione.
Clinton, negli Usa, messo in croce, confessa la sua relazione, ma non azzarda la reazione. Non ci prova. Qui da noi, con una protervia senza precedenti, l’imperatore in un primo tempo prova a negare l’evidenza sconcia, poi decide di cambiare le carte in tavola e dimostare che lo sconcio è la norma. Se non si può negare, meglio allora esaltare. Un’armata di spie, velinari e maestri della disinformazione prende così a lavorare per costruire l’immagine d’un capo che è marcio solo perché la regola è il marciume. E’ l’ora del “big brother“, il fratello maggiore. Un “Grande Fratello” permanente esce così in edizione straordinaria, confonde dai teleschermi il virtuale e il reale e tutt’intero un Paese diventa protagonista d’una indecente rappresentazione. Giorno dopo giorno, impotente di fronte alla sperimentata capacità ipnotica di monitor e conduttori, il cittadino, ridotto a suddito telespettatore, assorbe il veleno che, in un’unica dose, potrebbe ammazzarlo e, goccia a goccia, invece l’immunizza.
Annichilita la coscienza critica dalla successione preordinata degli scandali quotidiani, non si salva nulla e presto ce n’è per tutti. Vecchie foto discinte della moglie del premier servono a screditare l’idea stessa della moralità, mentre sordide storie prendono a circolare in forma di minacciosa barzelletta. L’invisibile manganello si abbatte con violenza inaudita sulla capacità di ragionare. Tutto è confuso e tutto si confonde; per ogni regola sono pronti un’accusa e una dose devastante di olio di ricino virtuale. Si mesta nel fango e l’aria si appesta: se una donna non si vende è un prodotto scadente, il giudice che non si compra è una “toga rossa“, un uomo che pensa con la sua testa è il solito “moralista veterocomunista”. Il modello ideale è il neofascista di Piazza Navona. Va di moda Corona dopo la carcerazione e il terreno è infine spianato, quando sotto i riflettori fa rumore il primo caso esemplare: il direttore di un giornale d’opposizione fatto a pezzi pubblicamente sulla scorta di carte e documenti “compromettenti“. Lo scandalo, montato ad arte, turba qualche coscienza e accende discussioni, ma nei salotti buoni della televisione medici prezzolati, accorsi al capezzale della democrazia, spiegano ai sudditi spettatori la loro accativante terapia da talk show: “chi non ha peccato, scagli la prima pietra…“.
Il Paese si adagia, la coscienza critica vacilla e una doppia morale afferma i suoi diritti. “Sì, però…” è la formula ricorrente e, se qualcuno fa ancora resistenza, d’improvviso ecco in luce meridiana i magistrati. Si scava nelle amicizie, si pubblicano conversazioni private, si fanno illazioni su quelli pubblici, si passano al microscopio le frequentazioni. Tutto contribuisce a far crescere il fango che ci insozza e c’è chi fa notare: “ognuno ha i suoi vizi, vedete?“. Uno stuolo di professionisti della guerra psicologica e dello spionaggio ci tiene d’occhio, ci scandaglia, vigilia, scava, scarta, sorveglia, raccoglie documenti, conserva dossier. E se quattro cialtroni in divisa, manovrati da misteriosi pupari, possono mettere in scena il ricatto dei transessuali per pugnalare un avversario politico del “Grande fratello“, il corpo del Paese mitridatizzato non si rivolta. Assuefatto al veleno, l’uomo comune si congratula addirittura con se stesso, strizza l’occhio all’amico e gli batte la mano sulla spalla: “la politica è questo, io l’ho sempre saputo. Tutti uguali, tutti corrotti. E sai che ti dico? Fanno bene, si vive una volta sola e farei come loro“.
Sono tutti convinti: il meglio della vita sta nella corruzione a viso aperto, nell’orgia dichiarata, nel successo assicurato a chi passa dal banco degli accusati al Parlamento. Ormai è l’imputato a segnare il confine tra il lecito e l’illecito di fronte al giudice intimidito. E non sembra esserci scampo: la lotta è per la vita. Darwin, che se ne intendeva, ha osservato che “quando una specie, grazie a circostanze oltremodo favorevoli, aumenta disordinatamente di numero in un piccolo territorio, spesso sorgono epidemie“.

Uscito su “Report On Line” il 28 ottobre 2009 e su “Fuoriregistro” il 29 ottobre 2009

Our economy is in shambles, our national debt is about 12 trillion dollars, (you can view the real time statistics here on a semi-entertaining/stressful website), and in wake of a failed 787 billion dollar stimulus we want healthcare reform; 0r do we? It’s not that I question President Obama or his administration’s ambition or vision, just their timing. Our unemployment levels are frightening and we want to spend more money? Our President and Congress are out of control with their spending. As a sophomore University student, I can’t say for sure that I could handle this situation any better; but from my standpoint I see a few solutions. So in lieu of a more academic approach to this, I plan to handle it with a little bit of humor:

If I Were President

1) Tax cuts for everyone: put more money in the everyday person’s pocket and chances are they are going to use  it like a pole at a stripclub.

2) Monitor and regulate welfare in a strict manner: come on, how many times have we seen a woman with twelve kids, a diamond ring, and food stamps in the grocery store? If we were to actually monitor this, we could actually help more people who need it. The mooching needs to stop.

3) Don’t visit other countries or campaign for your hometown to host the Olympics when there are serious issues: We don’t need the approval of Europe. Why has it become trendy to copy Europe and why are we so dependent on being approved of on a national scale? We are The United States of America, we are Americans, and we formed this nation to escape European rule. Our founding fathers should be rolling in their graves right about now. We have enough problems on homeland, lets work on our own issues before we flaunt how awesome we are to the rest of the world.

4) Focus on education, money management, and emphasize research: if we were taught money management skills when we were younger, we wouldn’t be buying $400,000 house on a $20,000 salary and would have probably avoided most of our contemporary issues altogether. If we invest in education and research, we create future jobs and future employees, plain and simple.

5) Give all illegal immigrants citizenship: whoa there! You probably think I’ve gone cuckoo for cocoa puffs right about now, but hear me out. As a child in a (legal) immigrant family, I can relate to the dream of pursuing freedom. But lets face the facts, illegal immigrants draining our programs of their crucial funding and that sucks more than Monica Lewinsky under Bill Clinton’s desk. So why not legalize them and make them pay taxes? Can you imagine the potential revenue in our budget created by this action?

So there are other distinct money saving possibilities our congress can chose from, but the real question is why healthcare? Why are we obsessed with “fixing” healthcare? I have two theories to offer:

1) Barrack Obama is a Muslim, Sarah Palin can see Russia from her backyard, aliens are coming in 2012 to take over and after healthcare is reformed, vaccinations will be administered which contain the fertilized eggs of Joan Rivers and the alien species which will then take over the human race.

2) President Obama is simply trying to get something done, he is worrying about congressional elections around the corner, and wants something on the Democrat’s resume that looks good. Sure it has a chance of working for our country, but at the rates which Pelosi and Obama want the healthcare legislation jammed down our our throats without really knowing how they work, it promises to be disastrous. Our healthcare system is among the best in the world and we really want to change it?

I firmly believe theory 1 is the true scenario.

All kidding aside, I don’t think healthcare is a responsibility that the government and in turn taxpayers should be concerning themselves with. And to answer calls for socialized healthcare: What incentive do drug companies have to cure cancer if they get payed the same amount for doing nothing? Seriously, has anyone ever been to the V.A. Hospital? Picture the D.M.V. with operating rooms and you have a comparable image. Our founding fathers wanted the government to do nothing more than protect the constitutional rights of its citizens, and that’s the way it should stay. There’s a reason foreigners come here to get operated on.

O.K. I’ll be brief.  Bush snorted coke, Lewinski blew Bill.  Kobe had a little O.P.P.  The point is no one cared when it came to their jobs.  Bush sucked because he sucked not because he did cocaine.  Lewinski sucked because….well I’ll let you take that one.  And ofcourse Kobe just bought a big ole’ ring and it was alllllll good.  David needs to hit the jewelry store and try keeping it on lock for now on. His old butt will probably pass out and die anyway if he keeps trying to beat down those young girls on his show.

Any way if you’re paying attention, holla back!!

-KARMAGEDDON

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother. – George Orwell, 1984

George W. Bush was President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 – but you wouldn’t know it from watching Hardball.  According to Chris Matthews and his like-minded guests, the vice-president was all-powerful.  Indeed, with respect to the crimes and miscalculations of his own Administration, Bush was more victim than perpetrator.  If not for the evil “Chee-ney” (as Matthews annoyingly insists on pronouncing the name) his presidency might not have been so bad.

What’s going on here?  Why do we see such willingness to let Bush off the hook?  For the answer, we need to go back a few years.

In 1993, Chris Matthews very much wanted to be Bill Clinton’s press secretary. When he didn’t get the job, his synapses went permanently haywire.  His life had hit a major psychic snag, courtesy of an Arkansas redneck and his scary, emasculating wife.  He needed to shake things up – big-time.

When the Lewinski scandal broke, Matthews’ smoldering hatred of the Clintons sent him as far over the edge as any pundit-journalist has ever gone.  (Delve into the archives of the Daily Howler for the lurid details.)  He became a reliable mouthpiece for the vast right-wing conspiracy, helping it disseminate slanderous stories about the Clintons too deranged for A-list Ken Starr errand boys like Michael Isikoff.   He even served as one of Rush Limbaugh’s occasional guest hosts.  (Remember that, dear readers, when you hear him condescending to wingnuts today.  It takes one to know one!)

Matthews hated Al Gore almost as much as he hated the Clintons, and in the 2000 presidential election he voted for George W. Bush.  Bliss it was in Chris’s world for a few months, but by September 10, 2001, the second Bush presidency had already run out of steam.  “Democratic” Clinton-haters like Matthews needed something new to justify their support for the callow failure-in-waiting who had stolen their hearts by vanquishing the supremely qualified – but somehow detestable – Al Gore.

They got it the next day at the World Trade Center, and for five years Chris Matthews – along with the rest of the media — engaged in an orgy of presidential hero worship which, in the fullness of time, has proved so terminally embarrassing to its participants that they still have difficulty coming to terms with it.

That’s why Matthews and other media hacks are so anxious to put the screws to Dick Cheney.  It’s not because he necessarily deserves it – though he richly does.  It’s because the sight of Cheney in the dock might lessen their own feelings of shame at having sucked up to his dreadful and incompetent boss – the actual president — for the better part of a decade.

William Jefferson Clinton, mannen som gav cigarren ett ansikte och visade hur något så trevligt som en avsugning kan bli en stor internationell skandal, visar här hur man kan prata friare när man inte behöver slåss med näbbar och klor för att bli omvald och hur man kan kissa pressen i ansiktet när de försöker göra det samma med dig.

John Ensign, Republican Senator

Interesting, interesting, interesting. Don’t those Republicans just personify the “family values” they so glowingly espouse. (Thanks to The Rachel Maddow Show and the Las Vegas Sun for this one.)

A couple of days ago, Senator John Ensign, the Nevada Republican, admitted to having an affair with the wife of one of his top aides. Yes, interesting, because Ensign was one of the Republican senators who had called for President Clinton to resign after the Monica Lewinsky affair. This same “forgiving” senator also had demanded that his fellow Republican senator, Larry Craig from Idaho, resign after he was arrested for trying to do some hanky panky with an undercover cop in a restroom in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Up to now, though, Ensign himself has only found it fit to step down from a senate committee chairmanship.

Since Ensign’s admission of his breaking the 7th commandment (wonder why he didn’t say it that way?), it has come to light that the woman with whom he was having this affair was also on his payroll, but even worse (great for her I suppose), her pay was doubled in both of the two jobs that she had as his employee. (Now it sounds like it was really three.)

What’s even more gob-smacking is that during the same period, her 19-year-old son was being paid for doing “research policy consulting”. Yes, that sounds like something a 19-year-old is really qualified for.

So onward go these moral Republicans, who never seem to have to pay in any way for what they get caught doing. People like Craig continue in office until the term ends, feigning being wronged, liked the meadowlark feigns being wounded to distract you from her nest of eggs. Others like prostitute hiring, David Vitter, U.S. Senator from Louisiana, smile and act they have done nothing and that everyone should pat him on the back for just being a man. And now Ensign.

Well, as for Ensign, I’m waiting for these moral Republicans, especially these evangelical christian types to come out and use their holy book literally, like they always do when they try to condemn gay people and homosexuality.

I mean here it is:

( Leviticus 20 verse 10 and Deuteronomy 22 verse 22). Moses had said both the adulterer and the adulteress had to be stoned. Where was the adulterer? Where was the man that had been found in the very act of committing adultery with the woman? Why had they not brought the man to be stoned together with the woman according to the law of Moses? Both adulterer and adulteress caught committing adultery had to be stoned according to the law of Moses. To stone the woman alone would have been wrong. (Here’s my source, in case somebody wants to mess with me.)

No, these hypocrites only want to use their morality and their religious beliefs, and their literal use of the bible when it suits their purpose. So, of course, they are not going to say anything against people like Craig, Vitter, or Ensign.

Let’s see if these hypocrites’ acts can somehow be blamed on gay people, like, for example, “if those gay people in Massachusetts (because that was the only state where same-sex marriage was legal when Ensign started his affair) weren’t able to get married, I would never have have wanted to cheat on my wife and sleep with my employee who just happens to be the wife of one of my top aides.”

Già… Chissà che cosa avrebbe detto il grande Indro in merito alle ultime vicende di Berlusconi?

Per una volta trasgredisco la linea di questo blog (che si propone come un luogo dichiaratamente non politicizzato) e spendo qualche parola sulle ultime imprese dell’… “imperatore di Arcore”, anzi di… “Hardcore”, come l’arguto Marco Travaglio (non a caso sfornato dalla scuderia montanelliana) ironizzò tempo fa.

In realtà neanche ora intendo parlare davvero di politica: voglio semplicemente parlare di etica, al di là degli schieramenti. E oggi mi sembra il giorno giusto, dato che la legittima consorte del cavaliere ha ufficialmente detto “NO!” ai comportamenti IMMORALI del marito.

Qui non si tratta semplicemente di infedeltà, cosa sì grave in sé ma che normalmente dovrebbe riguardare meramente la sfera privata di una coppia. Qui l’imperatore di Hardcore continua a dare all’Italia il messaggio che a lui è concesso tutto e che per fare carriera non serve avere studiato, avere maturato esperienza, essere persone con gli attributi, essere persone colte, intelligenti, preparate ed eticamente corrette: no, serve soltanto battere i materassi giusti ed essere delle marionette, anzi, delle geishe (con tutto il rispetto per le vere geishe) sempre a disposizione, pronte ad eseguire ciò che il “sovrano” dice e vuole. Una prostituzione sia fisica sia mentale, quindi.

Anche Clinton aveva una giovane amante con cui si trastullava direttamente nello Studio Ovale della Casa Bianca. Ma di certo non esibiva questa cosa, non la spacciava come giusta e specialmente NON CANDIDAVA Monica Lewinski come deputato né la rendeva ministro!

Altro che la meritocrazia tanto predicata da Brunetta, Gelmini & company! (anche se il modo in cui molti ministri sono giunti agli scranni è stato notoriamente tutt’altro che meritato, giusto e onesto…). Qui ha ragione Paolo Guzzanti quando parla di mignottocrazia! Il problema è che l’esempio che viene dato anche alle giovani generazioni è anti-etico e anti-meritocratico per definizione: se per diventare qualcuno serve far parte dell’harem di un potente, perché mai impegnarsi nello studio, nel lavoro, e trovare una propria strada in maniera retta e onesta? 

Una cosa molto giusta l’ha affermata Livia Turco, che l’altra sera su La7 ha avuto modo di ribadire il concetto: “Le ragazze oggi sono bombardate da messaggi distorti in cui la bellezza si misura in etti, in certe fatture del corpo e in una determinata disponibilità sessuale. Devono liberarsi dalla schiavitù degli stereotipi che vedo ritornare, e non disperdere ciò che è stato conquistato in passato. [...] Il diritto più importante per le donne è quello di essere se stesse. Invece vedo che oggi ci sono modelli culturali che ripropongono lo stereotipo della femminilità basata sulla mercificazione del corpo femminile e sulla banalizzazione della libertà sessuale”.

Parole sante, specialmente perché pronunciate non da una tradizionalista benpensante, ma da una donna che ha militato in partiti tutt’altro che conservatori.

Su questo argomento trovate interessanti riflessioni nei post di un blogger-vicino-di-casa (in calce ai quali ho espresso anch’io il mio parere):
http://scorfano.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/domani-in-classe/
e
http://scorfano.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/euro-sparse-lauree/

Quello che io temo è che fin tanto che molti italiani continueranno a stare dalla parte di individui che, con il proprio aberrante esempio quotidiano, si fanno promotori di questi messaggi immorali e diseducativi, sarà proprio la cultura italiana a perdersi irrimediabilmente, ad abbandonare qualsiasi barlume di dignità e ad affondare… Oggi più che mai sono vere (a livello letterale!) le parole di Dante:

Ahi serva Italia, di dolore ostello,
nave sanza nocchiere in gran tempesta,
non donna di province, ma bordello!

« … Comprennez-moi bien: les relations entre l’Amérique et la communauté musulmane, le monde musulman, ne peuvent pas et ne seront pas seulement influencées par notre opposition au terrorisme. Nous désirons atteindre une entente en respect de nos intérêts mutuels. Nous écouterons attentivement, nous tenterons d’éclaircir les incompréhensions et nous rechercherons une entente. Nous serons respectueux, même lorsque nous ne serons pas d’accord. Nous confirmerons notre appréciation profonde pour la foi islamiste en reconnaissant sa contribution dans l’évolution de notre monde depuis des siècles et ce, même dans mon propre pays. Les États-Unis ont été enrichis par la contribution des américains musulmans. Plusieurs américains comptent des musulmans dans leurs familles et d’autres ont vécu dans des pays à majorité musulmane. Je le sais parce que je suis l’un d’eux… » – Discours de Barack Obama devant le Parlement Turc, le 6 avril 2009.

Je suis de ceux qui croient que ce pays peut jouer un rôle extrêment important en Afghanistan. Comme le souligne Le Figaro dans son édition du 6 avril dernier, «la Turquie a une valeur ajoutée évidente pour les Américains qui veulent renouer avec le monde islamique. La diplomatie turque, qui repose sur le concept “zéro conflit avec nos voisins“, a conduit Ankara à se rapprocher de l’Iran et de Damas, à parrainer des négociations de paix indirectes entre Israël et la Syrie, à favoriser la coopération afghano-pakistanaise… Les Turcs sont bien placés pour servir d’intermédiaires dans de nombreux dossiers prioritaires de Barack Obama…

Les liens historiques avec l’Afghanistan remontent aux années 1930 quand la jeune République turque avait apporté son soutien à la construction de l’État afghan. L’engagement actuel de l’armée turque en Afghanistan s’inscrit dans le cadre de cette longue tradition. Au mois d’août, la Turquie doit prendre, pour la troisième fois, le commandement de l’Isaf, la force internationale de l’Otan. Neuf cents soldats turcs, qui ne participent pas à des opérations de combat, sont actuellement engagés à Kaboul et dans sa région. »

Lors de sa fondation en tant que république, la Turquie s’est assurée de séparer l’État de l’emprise de la religion. Cette décision historique pourrait inspirer une partie de la société civile afghane de reconstruire leur pays dans le respect de la loi et de l’égalité. Il est primordial pour cette partie du monde de consolider les croyances religieuses et les règles fondamentales du vivre-ensemble afin de mettre fin à ce conflit qui a déjà fait des milliers de victimes. Les disciples de Sayyid Qutb pourront continuer de tourner le dos au mode de vie occidental mais devront accepter que l’application de la sharia ne fait aucun sens. Pour contrer efficacement les délires de certains talibans, les Afghans doivent accepter l’aide internationale. La Turquie pourrait certainement modifier le cours des choses. Si les américains ne parviennent pas à former adéquatement l’armée afghane – celle qu’on appelle parfois « l’armée du hachisch », peut-être les turques auraient-ils plus de succès à rallier les Afghans déterminés à se donner un véritable pays.

Mieux que quiconque, Barack Obama peut contribuer à rallier la communauté internationale. Il a l’opportunité de faire oublier ses prédecesseurs. Il semble être prêt à déployer beaucoup d’efforts pour qu’on oublie celui qui baignait dans le mensonge permanent. Il démontre une approche pragmatique, contrairement à l’ancien président démocrate qui a perdu la confiance de ses concitoyens en pratiquant l’adultère. De plus, il devra être prudent lorsqu’il donnera les directives à son armée qui n’hésite pas à tuer des civils en justifiant la guerre contre les terroristes. Il ne pourra pas protéger les voleurs de Wall Street indéfiniment car les honnêtes gens perdront confiance en son habileté à calmer les ambitions des maîtres de l’économie qui court-circuitent les efforts de paix mondiale.

S’il peut respecter quatre des dix commandements du décalogue, il pourra peut-être contribuer à modifier le cours de l’histoire.

Illustration: omphale – Flickr

Again from the Daily Mail, President Bill Clinton tried to chat up British soup star Claire Sweeney (why?):

Clinton managed to shake off his bodyguard and swiftly made a beeline back to Sweeney, who was dressed in a saucy Dangerous Liaisons-style outfit.

The 37-year-old asked him: ‘You don’t want to go, do you?

‘He said “How can you tell?”

‘I said “Because your left leg is dancing”.’

To which 62-year-old Clinton is alleged to have responded: ‘My middle leg will be dancing soon!’

I love President Clinton, because he is just as flawed as the average man. I think the way Obama is trying to mold himself in the image of the perfect man, he will fall on his face because he is not perfect.

As a black man, I strangely Identify more with Clinton than Obama, because like myself, Clinton has a soft spot and weakness for the ladies. I prefer Monica to Claire, but hey, thats just me.

HIS NAME: CHARLES WADE BARKLEY

WE KNOW HIM AS:  SIR CHARLES & THE ROUND MOUND OF REBOUND

I love Sir Charles Barkley so much, I figured it was only inevitable to dedicate this week’s Man Tribute to the Round Mound of Rebound. Why not? Is there truly anybody on God’s green earth that doesn’t like Charles Barkley? I didn’t think so.

Some of Sir Charles’ funniest quotes:

“I can be bought. If they paid me enough, I’d work for the Klan.”

“I had to explain to my daughter why that skank Monica Lewinski has an hour special on HBO this weekend.”

“We are in the business of kicking butt and business is very, very good.”

 ”Sam Cassell is a good guy, but he’s not going to wind up on the cover of GQ anytime soon.”

“I have nothing against old people; I want to be one myself one day.”

Black people use duct tape for everything. You break a chair, use duct tape. Your pants rip, use duct tape. You tear your ACL, use duct tape!”

“I really don’t eat that much. I just, more or less, tend to eat all the time.”

It is an honor to tribute the Round Mound of Rebound, Sir Charles and Charles Wade Barkley!

Just the other day, I read the stories on the successes Susquenita High School athletes were enjoying at the District 3 Wrestling Championships. Yes, Perry County has some really good high school athletes. Something which is often forgotten amidst the stories about Pervert Bob Pavlovich, and jokes about brothers marrying sisters and large appliances on the front porches. Oh, and banjos.

Or even dueling banjos (although in the original Deliverance, it was banjo vs. guitar).

Pushing the wrestlers further off the front page was this morning’s stories about 2 teenagers engaging in a sex act on the public school bus. In the middle of a full load of middle school and high school students. Can you say Monica Lewinski?

“She told us she would do anything she can to be popular. … It’s sad to become popular that way,” the unidentified “strict” and very christian mother of the 16-y.o. girl is quoted as saying in the newspaper.

Both the girl and the boy whose nob she was allegedly polishing, well at 18 he’s not really a boy, identified as Steven Confair of Rye Township, Perry County, were charged by State Police with disorderly conduct. Additional charges are possible.

For the girl, bold as she was, there’s little more than shame.

For Confair, high fives all around. He might even have squealed.

Wonder what Steven Tyler thinks of this. Made me think of an elevator. There are no traffic lights in Perry County. And no elevators, either. Well… might as well use the school bus.

I understand why the incoming administration doesn’t want to create a ruckus in the republican and democrat camps about the idea of looking into the Bush Administration’s illegalities over the past 8 years.   I really do.  I get that it would create a media firestorm and has the possibility of a three ring circus-like atmosphere.  I know if it was taken to congress it would tie them up inexorably in endless testimony and argument.  I realize it would take money to run such proceedings, that we don’t want to invest the time and cost of hearings at this point in time. 

I also know that what Barack Obama said: “I don’t believe that anybody is above the law… we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.” doesn’t even remotely begin to cover the issue at hand.  I know that this logic is sound in the sense that in the grip of an economic meltdown he wants to keep the good will of both parties together and bring the country forward (hopefully) towards a better time than now.  Maybe he feels that an investigation into the policies and practices of the Bush administration would take necessary time and be a distraction to current pressing problems.

But I really needed a firmer condemnation of the blatent disregard the outgoing administration’s towards human rights, constitutional law and overstepping of power of office.  Bad enough we were sent to war under false pretense but to allow this to happen without bringing any accountability to bear is beyond wishing for bipartisanship.  It is unconscionable and ignores the truth and justice that we keep being told is the American way of democracy.     

At the very least set up a special commitee and create a report.

Paul Krugman article  

We are talking some gross disregard for the laws, more along the possibility of Watergate, arguably in some cases even worse.  There were hearings over Iran/Contra, Nixon resigned under clouds of wrongdoing, others went to jail…

For god’s sake the republicans against the wishes of the majority of the people in this country spent a fortune on Kenneth Starr and his report while trying to impeach Bill Clinton because he lied about, uh, “getting a Lewinski?”  Seriously.  This country was dragged through the mud because of a vendetta for Clinton… over what?  Not even close to the things this administration has done, and shows no remorse for doing.

It’s not possible that as a country we will turn away from foul policies that caused so many deaths and trampled all over what our country is supposed to stand for???  

This is the major problem with this country right now.  It’s always the other guy’s fault.  As a matter of fact Bush himself stated: “If it feels good do it, if you got a problem blame somebody else…”

No one takes responsibility for f**king up anymore straight on up to our elected officials/  People lie, cheat and steal… if it’s overlooked at the top how do you expect the “average joe’s” to be more noble then them?

The response to the near disaster plane in NY’s Hudson River shows what our country and our people are capable of.  Please Barack Obama as President: don’t let this administration get away with these crimes.

Congressional hearings and further justice can be put on the back burner for a later date while you work on the economy but there must be an official record of this travesty.

The time is thankfully near to a new administration and hopefully to a better future.

G’night,

Laura

*

Joe the plumber on Israel

Trying to turn semi-literate Joe the non Plumber a journalist covering Israel because he agreed with some statement that a vote for Obama meant the death of Israel is like making Monica Lewinski a licensed sex therapist because she gave Clinton a blowjob… oh, wait she actually has some more experience in that  field than Joe has in well, any of his fields actually…   ::sigh:: 

Is anyone else annoyed that Joe gets these opportunities to travel and have people listen to him babble?  

He actually said “I think media should be abolished from, you know, reporting… You know, war is hell. And if you’re gonna sit there and say, ‘well, look at this atrocity,’ well you don’t know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it.”

Joe says the news should be biased.  Fascinating.

I’ll take the extreme right conservative republicans seriously when they stop putting up people like Palin, Joe the Plumber and Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, et al.,  forward as spokespeople for their cause.   

In fairness, I don’t take raving liberals seriously either however.  And I do realize most republicans and democrats are more moderate in beliefs than the extreme factions. 

Interesting how conservatives and NRA members howl when they feel their God given right to bear arms (and shoot them) is threatened but often want to deny women the right to choice because they have to protect the unborn’s rights and defend the death penalty.  How about you protect all those people killed from gun violence in this country every day?  Oh wait, guns don’t kill people, people kill people… Or maybe we could blame it on the bullets that kill people.  Nah it couldn’t be those people… they’re just defending themselves.  Yea, that’s the ticket.  It’s not accidental shootings, children playing with guns, angry shootings of significant others, robberies gone wrong, suicides or murder suicides…  nope gun control is always bad, bad, bad.   Like fingerprinting, background checks, hard to get permits, mandatory safety training before getting a gun.  It seems a little late to use mandatory sentencing after a gun is used in a crime.  THAT isn’t working is it?

I’m so sick of circular reasoning.  That and the idea that whoever yells the loudest to drown out others wins the argument.  I seriously think this country needs to address the education problem before we get much dumber.   

G’night, tomorrow off to the doctors.  I guess my cold has turned into some kind of bronchitis or sinus infection.  Ah well.

Laura

HELLO, READERS. All five+ of you. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m creating a new feature here on OlyVil. Now that the election is over, there’s no more crazy campaign hijinks to discuss, and we all breathe a heavy sigh of relief. But FEAR NOT, we still have a great many things to cover for you (and Kim pointed out a few of them in this post).

In the spirit of not letting this blog die what with both the Olympics and the election season being over, the new feature we’re covering will be introducing to you all of the key figures that our new President-elect Obama will be appointing to his cabinet through the coming months until Inauguration Day. AAAAAAAND we’re starting with, newly appointed Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.

Rahm Emanuel has been on the Washington scene for a while. He worked for five years as a senior advisor to President Clinton, and has been in the House of Representatives since 2003. This is all just fodder.

Right now, the comments coming from the press all say that Emanuel, a long-time friend of the President-elect, was chosen because he complements Obama’s cool-natured disposition, with his own fiery, angry, slightly insane attitude.

CAN I JUST SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE MEN IN POWER? POWERFUL MEN WHO ARE MAYBE JUST A LITTLE BIT EVIL? I fancy myself an informative, semi-serious blogger, but man. The stories I’ve been hearing about this Rahm Emanuel character make my london-london bridge wanna go DOWN, ladies. Por ejemplo:

• On the night after the 1996 election, “Emanuel was so angry at the president’s enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting ‘Dead! … Dead! … Dead!’ and plunging the knife into the table after every name.” [link]
• Emanuel himself explodes amusingly at regular intervals and uses language that might have made Richard Nixon blush. [link]
• Never a mincer of words, Emanuel didn’t couch his meaning when he offered Tony Blair counsel just before the then British prime minister appeared with President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal: “This is important. Don’t fuck it up.” [link]
• And of course, the infamous dead fish incident, when Emanuel was so infuriated by a pollster, that he sent a two and a half foot, rotted fish, just for pissing him off.

Also, hi, his brother is none other than ARI FRIGGEN GOLD. Ari Emanuel, the inspiration for Jeremy Piven’s character on Entourage. ARI. FRIGGEN. GOLD. Is there ANY REASON I should not just drop to my knees in front of this man?

Not to mention that according to fans of The West Wing (hello, Kimberly), the Josh Lyman character is based upon Rhambo himself. And. AND! The Matt Santos character is based upon none other than our very own President-elect Barack Obama. WHAT THE HELL? IS OUR GOVERNMENT REALLY, REALLY?!!? TURNING INTO A SEXY NBC DRAMA? Because if so, I AM ALLLL OVER THAT, MAN. That is AWESOME!

So, that’s the rundown on our sexy, angry, sexy, evil chief of staff designate. We’ll have more of these introductions to what is looking to be an AMAZING administration as Obama continues to appoint them. In the mean time, here’s some photos, since I never let you go empty handed:

Whisper whisper.

You know, this almost looks porny.

Cute.

by Molly Tulipan

Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Warren Harding and Nan Britton. JFK and Marilyn Monroe. Sexual scandal has permeated the White House since America can remember.  Why do leading politicians risk their national reputations and their jobs for extramarital sex? The answer might just lie in their chemical makeup.
Monoamine oxidase A (MOA) is an enzyme that helps our bodies regulate important neurotransmitters like Dopamine. Involved in emotion, learning, and attention, this chemical messenger also has numerous links to risk-taking (Myers, 2006). Zuckerman (2000) discovered that people with sensation-seeking personalities often have excessive levels of Dopamine activity.  This is where MOA comes in to play; people who take fewer risks have higher levels of MOA, because MOA regulates Dopamine. Most people have enough MOA to keep their risk-taking behavior under control. For instance, older people have more MOA than younger people and thereby exhibit less frequent risk-taking behavior. (Ever wondered why young adults are more likely to put themselves in sticky situations than their grandparents?) Females have more MOA than males and are less likely to put themselves in dangerous situations such as drinking and driving and excessive drug use.  What happens when you don’t have sufficient MOA? Essentially, lower levels of MOA yield more dangerous behavior.

In 1971, psychologist Marvin Zuckerman linked levels of MOA to another behavior: sensation seeking, a term he coined.  Zuckerman created a complex personality test called the Sensation-Seeking Scale. Sensation seekers are characterized by a tendency to put themselves in new, exhilarating situations even if they are dangerous. People that pass for sensation seekers as defined by Zuckerman are also easily bored, particularly by repetition in the workplace, “predictable” experiences with others, and conventional work assignments (Zuckerman, 1964, cited in The University of Delaware 1997). It comes as little surprise, then, that sensation seekers might crave the excitement and volatile environment of the White House, and similarly, that their thrill-seeking personalities might also lead them to reckless sexual behavior.

MOA is not the only explanation for sensation seeking. As is always the case with assessing personality traits, risk-taking personalities are a delicate combination of nature and nurture. However, it is interesting to consider that the same traits that lead someone to such a high position of power might also lead them down the risky path of adultery. Even more fascinating: are these traits linked to chemicals in our bodies that lie partly beyond our control?

References

University of Delaware Office of Public Relations (1997). Sensational study: Psychology prof’s work ranks among world’s best. Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http://www.udel.edu/PR/UpDate/97/19/27.html

Author Unknown. (1998, September 9). Sex and the White House. BBC News.  Retrieved October 4, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/clinton_under_fire/the_big_picture/167068.stm

Zuckerman, M. (2000, November) Are you a Risk Taker? Psychology Today.  Retrieved October 4, 2008, from
http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20001101-000035.html

Carmichael, M. (2008, 12 March). His Cheating Brain. Newsweek. Retrieved October  2, 2008, from  http://www.newsweek.com/id/121492/output/print

Myers, D. (2006). Psychology (8th Edition in Modules). New York: Worth Publishers.