Peaceful Protest III

Of course these anti-globalization thugs have never been very peaceful, or rational. So they've hurled a brick at an Abercrombie and Fitch salesgirl. Now, I've certainly met a few smart ass little sales girls that I've wanted to thwack with a blunt object, but I don't think it would solve the world's inequalities, and I'm a nice person.








You know it could be a disgruntled customer hiding amongst the protesters. She probably got that look from the sales girl. You know the one that says "Yeah, those jeans would look nice if they weren't cutting your fat ass in half. Maybe they have something for you at Kmart." Now that's worth hurling a brick over.

Yes, I do fantasize a fair bit.

From Instapundit again.

On ChimpyMcHitlerBurton and His Ilk.

There's a new study out of Germany that says when chimps are given a choice, their decisions are rational, and driven by self-interest. That wouldn't have sent up such a red flag to me if there hadn't just been a similar published study on Liberals and Conservatives and how they make decisions. Even the term "homo-politicus" was used in the title of the article.

I'm waiting for the grand conclusions that will be drawn from this study. The one with the hypothesis that since conservatives are driven by self-interest then chimps are conservatives, and therefore George Bush is actually more or less a chimp.

You know there are folks already gathering their chimpanzee subjects and putting them in simulated voting booths.

That's funny to me.

Then on the other hand I seem to remember the Nazis were very fond of painting Jews as driven by greed and self-interest, and also had a strange fixation with the caricature of the Jew as a gorilla. It always troubles me how less rational elements of the left use that same Nazi propaganda tactic when protesting Bush, painting him up like a chimp.

History: lather, rinse, repeat.

Yes, I know Americans used similar propaganda, but today we look upon it with scorn, unless that is, the propaganda is used against someone like the President. We certainly wouldn't paint the terrorists who intentionally kill innocent people as raging gorillas. That would be intolerant.

Oh wait. I think the study says that chimps are more rational than humans. Makes sense. Never mind.

Teacher Terrorism? Part 2

Well, it's not exactly teacher terrorism, but it's right in line with this earlier post.


Tell me, are these kinds of awards going to help the children? I had a friend in middle school who was a very nice girl. She had a lot of problems in school even though she was in gifted and talented programs. Looking back today, I can see that she probably had some attentional issues that caused these academic problems. I really wasn't a very supportive friend to her, but it was always the teachers who seemed to understand her the least. She confided in me once, that her second grade teacher picked her up in front of the class and held her over the garbage can, and asked the other students if she could throw her in the trash. That story kind of stuck with me all these years, and I still hurt for this friend. I can't imagine how it would have felt to actually be her right then. I don't know what is worse: the thought that these teachers who did this to this boy have so little common sense, and still get paid to teach our kids "how to think", or that they have common sense and choose to be sadistic.

BTW, there are plenty of teachers out there that I positively adore. I just don't think these kinds of stories should be ignored.

"Was I Good Today, Mama?"

Today we went to the park to meet with the other homeschoolers. It's an every Wednesday thing that we enjoy. My friend Dharma came along with her two girls Rain and Autumn, and the weather was warm enough for swimming, so everyone wore their bathing suits.

The kids were eager to get in the water, so after slapping the sunscreen on, they ran right in. The three girls decided it was great fun to have a mud fight and got plenty dirty before swimming around. Jake was doing his thing, splashing around with some friends made on the spot, then coming ashore to show them his hand stand technique.

I was talking to the other parents, minding my own business, when I notice a concerned expression on Dharma's face. She's looking out into the water as if she's trying to hear something. I notice a small group of kids crowding around this hulking girl that is "all up in" my daughter's face. I watch Josie, craning her neck, but not stepping back, say with a great big grin "You're twelve?! My cousin is twelve too!" I didn't hear exactly what the hulking girl was saying, but she was wagging her neck around, and I could hear her mocking Josie's voice, still standing in this aggressive pose. Soon my kid, still grinning, swims a little bit away to play by the ropes. After that, I could see the bully talking to the little gaggle of kids behind her, saying stuff about my kid that I can't even remember through the red that was forming in front of my eyes. I could tell she was showing off for the littler kids who seemed to look up to her. I noticed Rain and Autumn were facing this girl, I couldn't hear what they said. I gathered they were attempting to stick up for Josie in front of this intimidating little crowd. Next I heard the hulky girl say "She's your friend?! How can you stand her? She's such a brat!"

I decided to let the circle of Josie-haters know that I was there and could hear what they were saying. A littler girl yelled out to me "That girl threw mud in her hair!" pointing to Hulky. I told the kids, as if they would really give a shit, "she wanted to play with you, it's a game for her, she didn't know she was being mean." (I understood that having mud thrown in your hair could be disconcerting, and may warrant a bit of chewing out, but this girl was going for the Oscar and it was getting out of hand. Add to that the kind of chuckling by the smaller kids that comes along with someone sharing a naughty secret, and my sympathies disappeared.)

I call Josie in to talk to her. I ask her if she could tell that that girl was angry and wanted to fight her. My child told me "no". She was surprised to hear this information. I explained how you can't start a mudfight with total strangers, and you should never start one without asking permission. She was clear and went back out to swim after having a sandwich.

I asked the homeschoolers I was with if they ever wanted to throttle someone else's child, and if I was a total jerk for wanting to go out there and commence to some mighty spanking. One of the parents told me a story about how he told a girl to never come back to his girl scout troop. I asked him why, and he began telling me about her behaviors. It sounded to me as if this girl may have had ADHD or some spectrum thing going on. I asked him if he thought she was a normally developing child, or if she was neurotypical. He looked at me as if I was bonkers. I shouldn't have asked in the first place, I know.

Back out in the water, another drama was unfolding. A boy was paddling a boat full of kids, Rain and Autumn included, round and round the swimming area. Josie cried out for them to wait for her. He began paddling faster. She managed to catch up. After a great struggle, with him still paddling for dear life, she managed to get on. The paddling boy yelled for all the kids to jump out when Josie got in.

I wanted to take her out of there now.

I got all of our stuff gathered up and yelled for the kids to come on. We were going back to Dharma's house to swim there, so I took Rain and Autumn along in the new minivan so they could try it out. Rain said "Everyone was calling Josie a weirdo out there." I said "I saw you sticking up for her, Rain. You're a good friend." I drove on a little lump in my throat.

Josie seemed totally oblivious to all that had gone on there. Naturally. This misunderstanding of facial expressions, and social interaction, and not knowing when you're being teased or rejected is a common aspie trait. She just went on and on about the dachsund she played with, and the baby bird hopping around the park, and a myriad of other delightful subjects, as we drove.

Everything went well at our friends' house, and we came home around 5 o' clock. When we saw Dad, I told him we went to the park and then we swam at Dharma's.

Josie stood in the living room shivering a bit in her bathing suit, and turned to me with her big eyes, and an expectant smile. She had her hands clasped under her chin and her shoulders up. "Was I good today, Mama?"

"Yes, baby, you were good today."

They're National News Now

Fred Phelps and his fellow troglodytes have crawled out from under their rock, and will be protesting at Jerry Falwell's funeral. I think it will be good for them to get some national attention, maybe someone will finally lose their patience with this kind of crap. I think a law against protesting at funerals wouldn't infringe unduly on anyone's rights.

Teacher Terrorism

Just another reason I'm glad I'm taking responsibility for my kids' education. Apparently some jackass schoolteachers in our great state of Tennessee thought it would be a dandy idea to subject children to the horrifying experience of being taken hostage by gun wielding black-hooded bandits. Oh how fun! You might worry that your children could come home from an overnight school camping trip with a tick or two, but not with post-traumatic stress disorder.

I'd sue the shit out of them if they did that to my kids, and after I was done with that, I'd make sure these guys bought some adult diapers because I'd use my lawsuit proceeds to hire people with toy guns to pop out of the bushes and from behind alleys wherever these asshats dared to venture. Of course, I'd probably get arrested for that, not just suspended for two weeks.

Keith Henson Hates Scientologists....

which earns him 6 months in jail in California.

For "Threatening a Religion".

Fred Phelps says "God Hates Fags" and protests at military funerals.

And gets serenaded by the sound of crickets.

Can we get it over with and declare Sanity dead now?

This Would Scare Me.

Family set upon by angry bicyclists in San Francisco.


The other side of the story.

Here's some video of one of these protests.

Do these people want to change minds, or just piss everybody off?

Just watch it all if you have the patience. There's a very sensible motorist towards the end who gets treated like crap. They are driving against traffic in several places, and creating mayhem in general. I doubt the cause is to promote eco-friendly transportation. I'm actually pretty impressed with the patience level of motorists in San Francisco. Nobody made target practice out of these guys.

To Fritz:

I agree that everyone should chill out.

What I saw on that video wasn't chilling out. There were people stopping traffic, driving the wrong way, daring motorists to hit them by standing in front of their bumpers and blocking their way, throwing beer bottles in their car windows. I get the sense this this is not how you personally behave, but I think many of these people in Critical Mass go too far and are out there on bicycles joyfully inciting frustration, fear, and rage on innocent people who are simply trying to get from point A to point B without hurting themselves or anybody else.

I would certainly be inclined to have a reasoned debate on the issue of cyclists and motorists being able to abide by the laws and safely share the road. I have an immediate family member who once was an avid cyclist and is now an amputee, because of a senseless accident with a truck full of idiots.

But the way to fight idiocy is not with more idiocy.

"Ann Overboard!"

As a "conservative", for lack at the moment for a more appropriate word, I have to make the admission that we often crawl all over ourselves to prove to our "liberal" friends that we're nice people, who care for animals, plant trees, love our gay cousin Fred, drive a hybrid etc. Crap! I've even worn through a pair of Birkenstocks! Oh, the shame! (I won't get into the fact right now that I do not believe there are very many dyed in the wool liberals or conservatives out there. Most of us are individuals, and if we sit down long enough find that we agree on most fundamental things and just go about getting those things in a different way).

Anyway, sometime in the past 20 years or so the party of Abolition, Suffrage, and Civil Rights got tired of apologizing for itself and letting the other side define us, and started slinging the mud in the opposite direction. I don't know if this is a wise way to fight this war of ideologies, but some of that mudslinging is funny. Unless someone who speaks for me, starts slinging the really dirty kind of mud, and it gets on me, and I try to wash it off, and it leaves a stain, and I think people see it, you get what I mean.

Most humor comes from pointing out everyday people's little hypocrisies. Like the fact that the same people who are always demanding tolerance for other religious beliefs love to drive around with little fish with legs on their bumper. I think it's cute in a way, but it is hypocritical, why not wrap a pork rind around the star of David while you're at it? Oh, wait, that would be anti-semitic, and not really very funny. Sorry.

This is where Ann Coulter comes in. I guess she decided somewhere along the way to expose the hypocrisy of those who decry "First Amendment, First Amendment!" every time someone wants to do something rude and offensive to traditional folks, and then turn around and demand you go to rehab whe you say something that offends them. So she said something really rude. And not funny. So Ann yelled "Faggot" in a crowded theater, and some people got really bruised up trying to be the first one to the exit door. I'm sure it was entertaining to her. She loves this kind of controversy. Watching someone have a cardiac infarction over a the utterance of a word is usually high-comedy.

She's been making it her business for a while to throw verbal pies at her opponents. And for a while it was hi-larious. In the meantime she made some excellent points too. And her sharp wit is matched by no one. But this week she threw a real shit-pie and she knew what it was when she baked it up, this wasn't a gaffe, botched joke, or faux pas, she intentionally tossed that pie out there, and it got on everybody. I don't want that stuff on me.

She also gave the opposition ammunition for about 2800 news cycles, and I'm going to have to listen to that too.

One thing that's nice about the Republican Party (and at the moment there aren't very many nice things I can say), is that when somebody in the party says something "not funny", we generally condemn it. See Trent Lott, who was just confused IMHO. We don't have republicans in the Senate that were Klan wizards (Byrd), or folks who let their girlfriend drown in four feet of water because they were worried about their political future, and then have the nerve to buy a Portuguese water rescue dog and name him "Splash" (Kennedy). We have a few buffoons on our side, but you generally find that they are widely scolded for their buffoonery, and the media reports it, and they get on TV and apologize for it etc.

See the nice thing about the First Amendment, is that although it gives you the right to say any damn thing you want, it doesn't give you freedom from censure.

I don't think she should apologize to me. But I certainly won't defend her for what she said. She has the right to think it and say it. But she's not speaking for me anymore. I have the right to walk away any time I please, and as soon as my fellow denouncers manage to cram their way through the exit doors and come out like ground beef on the other end, I will be right behind.

Whoops.

If it's an anti-capitalist summit, why are they charging starving people $7 a plate? I guess if you want some evil capitalist pig to donate his dirty money to your cause you have to have some starving children around, you know, some really desperate ones.

Tell me. Who paid for the seeds that grew into food? Who bought it? Who processed it? Who prepared it? I would bet there was a merchant involved somewhere. The same evil capitalists that donate to causes all over the world to help these kids...while socialist elites congratulate themselves over wine and cheese.

Making a Mountain out of a Mole

Michelle Malkin has excised something insignificant that got all blown out of proportion by the White House press corps, who apparently have nothing better to investigate.

I think Laura Bush may be constipated. Let's hold a press conference and get a proctologist here quickly. We need to see her latest colonoscopy. We have questions, lots of questions.

The hilarity of the situation is that if Mrs. Bush became a spokeswoman for squamous cell carcinoma, the press would be all over Tony Snow interrogating him about whether this was an important health issue, and why the First Lady wasn't out campaigning against Aids in Africa with Bono or something.

Note from Islam to Pope Benedict

How dare you call us violent and unreasonable!

Farook Mahommed's Day Off

Since when have you been able to get 11 people together, on the fly, to ditch class? In a gigantic city that is foreign to you? And miss your flight to Montana to do it? Oh, and risk being deported by the authorities? Wow, these Egyptian college kids really know how to plan a party. I think it must have been number 10 that planned it all. He's got that hunka hunka burnin' look about him. He wanted to do the whole lip-sync- on- the- parade- float thing. Of course they were all pretty bummed when they found out that they couldn't pretend to float 100 stories up in the observation deck at the World Trade Center. Just some things you can't do anymore in New York City.

Update: I want to hear the whole story.