People get upset over the dumbest things. I can’t comprehend how people can be so sensitive. I know I get it from my dad, who has about as much tact as a gorilla at a tea party. Oh, the stories I could tell.

My favorite bumper sticker (sadly it was on the truck I used to own and I haven’t found a replacement) said, in big bold letters, “GET OVER IT.”

So, I hope you’ll have proper context when I say the people who’s panties are wadded over the new Burger King “Whopper Virgins” ad campaign are idiots.

I really love the concept. A whopper and a big mac, side-by-side taste test, offered to people from different cultures that have never had (and sometimes never heard of) a hamburger.

I’ve always thought that food is the most fascinating aspect of culture. Unlike politics, religion, and economics, you can ask a person from a different culture about the food and be sure you’ll never offend them. In fact, I’ve found that they usually enjoy talking about it.

Every time I have a chance to talk to someone from outside the Unites States, I ask them what they think of American food and what they miss about food back home. Everyone eats and everyone has things they like and don’t like to eat. It’s universal and, at least to me, very interesting.

Now, as for the controversy, Hot Air has a post that sums it up. Rather than rehash it here, I’ll just link to it.

Clicky clicky.

DangerDave has posted another great post full of intelligent calm regarding the economy. Check it out. I’ll be paraphrasing the finer points here.

It was almost exactly one year ago that the Dow broke 14,000. Back then, I wondered when the correction would hit. Just like back around Y2K, when the dot-com boom artificially pushed up the stock market, big peaks in the market are usually followed by bigger drops. Here, let me show you.

In 1987, we had “Black Monday” a huge one-day correction. It was the end of the world… except not. Between 2000 and 2002, the dot-com bubble burst and 9-11 punched the economy in the jimmy and we went to war. Over two years, the market shed 38%. It was the end of the world… except not.

A year ago, the market, buoyed by a lot of bad lending and an inflated housing market, hit 14,000 points for the first time ever. At this point, I started looking for the end of the world. It has arrived… except not. This is a correction. Corrections happen. The market continues to go up over time. There’s no reason to expect it will not continue to go up throughout our lifetimes.

As much as the Liberal-pinko-stinky media (and their favorite Liberal-pinko-stinky politicians) want you to believe otherwise, the U.S. economy is sound. All of the economic indicators that are used to define a recession are UP!

MSN’s Money page has gone so far as to add a “Financial Crisis” tab to their website where you can find articles like, “Surviving a financial panic,” “What if your bank fails?” “A survival guide for the unemployed.” I wonder if that last article talks about selling apples out of a basket for 10 cents a piece. What a farce!

If you think I’m making all this up just because I’m a conservative, look closer. According to the dems and the media, this is a huge crisis! “If we don’t bail out the market before Friday we would see the Great Depression II.” (That was last Friday) Then it was, “If we don’t get this passed by Monday…” And now it’s Tuesday. The bail-out bill failed (with 95 dems voting against it). The market is up over 300 points! And Pelosi has sent Congress home for the Rosh Hashanah holiday. WHAT??!! If this is such a huge crisis, don’t you think we might need to work through Rosh Hashanah? Well, guess what. This is NOT a crisis. This is a completely fabricated, election year, puppet show.

So what about Bush (and McCain for that matter)? The single, foremost point on which GeeDub and I have failed to see eye-to-eye is on big-business. It was the big-biz lobby that led Bush’s (and McCain’s) pro-immigration-amnesty push a while back. It’s equally clear that the big-biz lobby has pushed Bush (and McCain) on this bail-out bill. Why else would he be making so much noise about getting this bail-out through? Doesn’t it seem a little weird that Bush (and McCain) and Pelosi (and Obama) are saying a lot of the same things? That stinks like week-old raw fish and I don’t like it.

Huck doesn’t like it either. Check out his blog post:

 Frankly, I’m disappointed and disgusted with my own Republican party as I watch them attempt to strong-arm a bailout of some of America’s biggest corporations by asking the taxpayers to suck up the staggering results of the hubris, greed, and arrogance of those who sought to make a quick buck by throwing the dice. They lost, but want the rest of us to cover their bets so they won’t be effected in their lavish lifestyles as they figure out how to spend their tens of millions and in some cases, hundreds of millions in bonuses and compensation which was their reward for … sinking their companies…

Amen. Put away your pitchforks. Douse the torches. Don’t sell your 401k. Go back to work. Keep producing and consuming and buying and investing just like you’ve always done and things will be just fine (so long as you vote Republican and get rid of this useless Pelosi Congress).

Now, I’ve got to get to work because this little post that was supposed to just be a link to DangerDave has gotten completely out of control.

I love the United States of America. Sure we’ve got our problems. But compared to every other nation in the world, I’m dad-gum proud to be an American.

I also love our National Anthem. The wife gets all teary when she hears it performed well. And we both can not stand it when someone gets all Marvin Gay, trying to show off their “talent” singing The Anthem before a sporting event.

Look, if you think you need to add words, repeat phrases, or throw in a bunch of extra key changes to show off, don’t. All you’re doing is making yourself look like a total boob by sacrificing a gem of patriotic pride on the alter of your self-interested non-career. I think they should tell the performer before hand, “We’re turning off the mic after 90 seconds. You go longer than that and we’ll spare our audience your screeching final stanza.”

Case in point, this “Pop Sensation” (pfft, yeah right) before a Cowboys game. You can tell it’s going to be bad when she starts off with some head bobbles and pointless pointing. But hang on ’til the end, if you can stand it that long. (Over two minutes!!) The real music in this clip is the melodic calls of the boo birds at the end.

Well, at least she got all the words right.

In case you’ve been living under a rock or only watching “MSM” coverage (these two are synonymous), Russia has thumbed its nose at the world to an even greater extent in the last week. Russia has now signed two cease fire agreements, both of which stipulate an end of aggression in Georgia and the latter of the two requires Russian’s to pull back to their August 6th positions. They have done neither.

In this clip, a Georgian reporter is making a live report for the outskits of  Gori (where Russian troops are razing the entire town and killing anyone who has not yet evacuated). In the midst of her report, she is struck in the arm by a sniper’s bullet, presumably Russian. From what I can find out, it’s an injury she’ll recover from, but the video is shocking none-the-less.

This is the third video I’ve seen in the last two days in which Russian troops open fire on press teams approaching the city. Remember what I said about the invasion and video coverage? The Russian army does not want any media within 100 miles lest the world get a glimps of atrocities they are perpetrating.

This news article confirms the location and identy of the reporter.

I blame it on the non-conformist within me. I’ve never liked Starbucks. Their just too trendy. Too snobby. (Are “small”, “medium”, and “large” beneath your “grande” dignity?) Besides, I really do hate the taste and smell of coffee.

Still, I have to chuckle at the latest media scandal surrounding the burnt-bean-juice vendor. For the third time in the company’s 37 year history, they’re redesigning their logo. The original logo “gave the impression of an authentic 15th century European woodcut” and featured a “”twin-tailed siren” (according to wikipedia). In the original logo, the siren’s breast and navel were exposed, again, much like the European art on which it was based. Through the years their java girl has become increasingly modest. I think you you can guess where this is going.

The new Starbucks logo is a throwback to their original, except that the new version obscures the nipples. Still, the ink was barely dry before the boycotts began. Several groups are decrying the artwork as obscene.

“[The logo] has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute … The company might as well call themselves Slutbucks.”

(Heh heh… Slutbucks…) Seriously though. It’s a mermaid, people! Mermaids don’t even have legs and unless your only exposure to mermaids has been the Disney variety, you aught to know that mermaids prefer to air out their mommy parts. Besides we’re not talking about high definition boobage. It’s a woodcut for goodness sake. You can get more titillation from your favorite PG-13 stupid-teen move.

Is it any wonder that the world has a disparaging view of “puritanical” Christians? *sigh* Just drink your devil bean juice and shut up, okay?

Clicky for the news article with all the logo goodness, new and old.

Ok, so the post title is a little sensational, but let there be no mistake: the tree-hugger-centric world view sees humanity as a virus. And this AP article makes it as clear as glass.

The story covers last years rise in birth rate in the the US. We’re having more babies while Japan, Canada, and all of Europe are struggling with birth rates that are not keeping up with mortality rates. Long story short, those golden idols of Liberal socialism are having fewer and fewer babies, so why is the world’s only super-power having more babies? Here’s the AP‘s take on it.

“Experts believe there is a mix of reasons: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty.”

Are you kidding me?! The Liberal media is so completely out of touch with reality that they can only assume the higher birth rate is due to more poor, stupid people and the evil Conservative Conspiracy taking away the poor, stupid people’s access to abortion!?!

It couldn’t possibly be due to the fact that life in America is good. The economy is good. People are healthy and prosperous. Conservative capitalism works. NO!! It CAN’t be THAT!!!

What’s even more infuriating is that after the AP writer gives us the “expert” opinion, none of the actual experts quoted in the article say anything that comes close to that pile of putrescence.

GAH!!

Read the whole article… IF you’re not going to be operating a vehicle or heavy machinery or have access to a fire arm lest you go postal afterwards.

I know this guy.

He went to Harvard, but only squeaked by with a D+ average. He dropped out of law school. He dropped out of divinity school. He has no formal education in any scientific field. He has made numerous grand and self-exalting claims, all of which have proven untrue.

So what could a guy like that amount to? Not much, right? Well, actually he’s Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President of the United States.

“I took the initiative in creating the internet.”
– Al Gore

Only in America.

P.S. I was looking for a good synonym to “braggart” to describe Mr. Gore but the best word thesaurus.com offered is a bit too PG-13 for this blog. I’ll give you a hint. It has to do with the male bovine digestive system.

If you’ve ever met me, you probably know that I’m a germaphobe. (The actual term is mysophobe, but nobody knows what that means.) Just today, I was laughed at repeatedly when I had to visit a busy, downtown hospital with some co-workers. My hands never left my pockets and I kept my mouth closed as much as possible.

But once in a while a story comes along that makes it all worth it. I love when I get the chance to say, “Look who’s laughing now!!”

A quick google of this story reveals that it’s been around the new for a while, but I just came across it today. Watch the video and bask in the horror.

Clicky clicky.

An open letter to the guy in the dressing room at Kohl’s this Saturday:

I’m sorry. I guess I just assumed too much. You see, in my mind, it’s always been a simple fact: If the dressing room door is closed, it might be in use, so either knock or use the next dressing room (you know, the one on which the door was standing open at the time).

But, clearly, you did not accept that fact, or at least it had not occurred to you. So, yes, I’m sure it was my fault that you opened the door to my dressing room while I was using it. I should have hung a sock on the door knob, or maybe brought along a Sharpie and scrawled, “ES OCUPADO” on the door on my way in. How could I have been so thoughtless.

Then again, if you did it on purpose, because you’re some kind of freakish pervert, then I only hope it was good for you, cuz I didn’t particularly enjoy it.

(Warning: This post got way too long because it really encompasses two separate issues: Deceptive media practices and ignorant, psuedo-religious ideology. Please read this with that in mind.)

I got an email from the AFA today asking me to buy and wear a button in support of traditional Christmas. Reason for the season kind of stuff. Not unusual. But the headline was about a school near Chicago that had “banned Christmas”. That’s a pretty bold statement. I appreciate the AFA but I’m keenly aware that they can get a little carried away in sensationalism, so I always do some background checking on their stories.

Initially, I found a bunch of blogs decrying the Oak Lawn school board for attacking tradition in favor of political correctness. The usual rancor you would expect. But all the rants linked to the same story from Chicago’s CBS affiliate. I read the story and even watched the news video clip and it seemed to me that it was all being over-blown. (Also something I’ve come to expect.)

This story and video report on a school board meeting at which a bunch of white folks say a lot of pretty stupid stuff* and the Muslim mother at the center of the controversy comes off as the most logical and level headed person at the meeting. So I begin to think, “Well, nobody is ‘banning Christmas’ here. It’s just a little Muslim mom asking that her kids be allowed to fast according to their religion. That’s nothing to get all mad about.”

But then, I found an older video which made much more sense. The blog links I had followed were referring to this video of the previous story in which the school did explicitly ban the celebration of “Halloween”, “Christmas”, and any other seasonal religious holiday. It was a knee jerk reaction to the display (and subsequent removal) of some Ramadan decorations. Instead, the school opted for sterile, politically correct “Fall” and “Winter” celebrations.

Now, normally, I would be upset about the religious ban, but the school board made the right decision in the end (according to the later story, allowing Christians and Muslims to celebrate). What I find really disturbing is that the CBS web site clearly replaced the first story with the second, using the same URL to cover up the upsetting story with the soothing one, hiding the story about religion being banned from school with the story in which the school’s “tolerant” final decision is made and the “good, white, Christian folk” are displayed using very poor logic* to condemn the school’s earlier decision.

Is anyone else bothered by the link switching going on here? If I linked to a story about religious intolerance and that link was later changed to a story about religious tolerance, I’d look like an idiot. Perhaps that was the TV station’s intention. Either way, it stinks.

* Now, I want to expand on this “stupid stuff”:

I’m very conservative and very nationalistic. I’m also a very vocal Christan and I tend to stand on the side of keeping Christmas Christian and public. But I really get aggravated when people use poor logic and bigotry to support their point. It makes the rest of us look bad. Here are some quotes from the parents at the school board meeting:

“If Muslims want the school holidays, menus and school traditions to become tailored to their needs or beliefs, then they should go to private school next to their mosque.”

So, tell me, sir: Why aren’t your kids in a Christian school? If your kids are in a public school, you should expect them to be exposed to multiple cultures. If you expect your public school to celebrate Christmas, you should not be surprised when they also learn about Ramadan. Your double standard in unconstitutional.

“They’re trying to take away holidays and stuff for the kids,” said resident Gene Boerema, dressed in a Santa Claus costume.

Wow. You really came out to support your religious beliefs, huh? Cuz we all know that Santa delivered baby Jesus and put him in a brightly wrapped box under a decorated pine tree. A Santa costume at a school board meeting? I think someone just wanted to make the news. People who turn serious issues into a circus really irritate me.

“We’re letting you come here, were honoring you, don’t dishonor us.”

Seriously?! You “let” people of another religion “come here”? What “here” are you talking about? “Your” school? “Your” neighborhood? “Your” country? You may need to brush up on your American history a little bit. “Here” isn’t “ours”. “Here” actually belonged to “them derned Injuns” first and the multitude of people to came “here” from somewhere else, I assure you, were not all Christians. It is very ignorant of you to assume a religion that is foreign to you is foreign to America. Now, if you’re talking about illegal immigrants using tax-payer funded schools and health care, that’s one thing. If you’re talking about Islam as something inherently foreign, you’re only exposing your own bigotry and stupidity.

Ok. I’ve ranted far too long. I’m going to have to let this one be and go take some deep breaths.