Slow News Day
Well, I'm watching the news in the chow hall and arguing with a USN Catholic chaplain about the relative merits of the USA vs. the USMC, and I notice that there are only two stories on the news. One is about Mel Gibson getting probation. On the subject of Mel Gibson, I can only quote this bit from Jackie Mason I found here.
From an interview with Jackie Mason, comedian and one-time rabbi, by Neil Cavuto (8/9), found on counterpunch.org:
Mason: "Nobody could excuse these remarks, but do you ever take it so seriously when a guy is drunk and stupid, laying on the floor, and he says some ridiculous things? People curse their own mother in a state like that. They tell their whole family to drop dead. I mean, the whole family would be going to a cemetery by Thursday."
Cavuto: "But nevertheless, they say it's a truth serum. You don't buy that?"
Mason: "You gotta be a moron, you gotta be the phoniest, wretchedest fraud in the world to claim it's a truth serum. If it's your family or friends and they say something in a drunken state, you say he's drunk and you forget about it. In a drunken state you might bang your head against the wall. Does that mean you wanna break your head?"
Also of note from that site is a discussion of Scotland attempting to ban swords.
Who the hell commits a crime with a sword? Oh, well. All Europeans are serfs anyway, and have been for generations. It's not like they really have any civil liberties to defend.
This would probably be illegal in most of Europe.
The other thing on the news was the arrest of a dude in Thailand in connection with the murder of that kid a while back. OK, so he's creepy-looking, like PeeWee Herman on Casual Friday. Granted he's been in trouble over kiddie porn and so should probably be institutionalized or simply shot. Somehow I'm not surprised he ended up in Thailand, the Child Prostitution capital of the Known Universe.
I'm not convinced he whacked this particular kid. And the guy is obviously so mental you can't tell whether his emails represent reality or fantasy.
But most significantly, in today's complex and ever-evolving world, with a fragile peace in Lebanon, insurgency/civil war in Iraq, al-Qaeda, bomb threats on Brit airliners, and a hundred thousand other things which will affect all our lives far more than one girl who was turned into a plastic junior Barbie doll getting murdered because her parents insisted on parading her in public dressed like a sextoy, these are the ONLY two things that made the cut for what goes on the evening news.
And we're supposed to believe the Media is credible?
Speaking of Credibility, let's talk warrantless wiretapping.
National Review has an article on the subject of the latest court ruling, wherein a lawyer with some serious creds rips the decision to shreds. Whether you are a fan of the Prez's authority to catch terrorists before they commit mass murder or not, the sloppiness and bad law contained in this ruling is interesting.
Personally, the question to me is "reasonable" and that changes with the stakes of the game. What is unreasonable in pursuit of a common criminal becomes eminently so when dealing with an enemy with which we are (de facto if not de jure) at war.
Totally Changing the Subject, this is as good as description of converting to Orthodoxy as can be fitted into a blog entry. And while we are all different, we all have some similarities. I never dipped into 'alternative spirituality' (although Mithra looked appealing for a brief time, until I considered the expense of sacrificing bulls) the same things drew me in.
From an interview with Jackie Mason, comedian and one-time rabbi, by Neil Cavuto (8/9), found on counterpunch.org:
Mason: "Nobody could excuse these remarks, but do you ever take it so seriously when a guy is drunk and stupid, laying on the floor, and he says some ridiculous things? People curse their own mother in a state like that. They tell their whole family to drop dead. I mean, the whole family would be going to a cemetery by Thursday."
Cavuto: "But nevertheless, they say it's a truth serum. You don't buy that?"
Mason: "You gotta be a moron, you gotta be the phoniest, wretchedest fraud in the world to claim it's a truth serum. If it's your family or friends and they say something in a drunken state, you say he's drunk and you forget about it. In a drunken state you might bang your head against the wall. Does that mean you wanna break your head?"
Also of note from that site is a discussion of Scotland attempting to ban swords.
Who the hell commits a crime with a sword? Oh, well. All Europeans are serfs anyway, and have been for generations. It's not like they really have any civil liberties to defend.
This would probably be illegal in most of Europe.
The other thing on the news was the arrest of a dude in Thailand in connection with the murder of that kid a while back. OK, so he's creepy-looking, like PeeWee Herman on Casual Friday. Granted he's been in trouble over kiddie porn and so should probably be institutionalized or simply shot. Somehow I'm not surprised he ended up in Thailand, the Child Prostitution capital of the Known Universe.
I'm not convinced he whacked this particular kid. And the guy is obviously so mental you can't tell whether his emails represent reality or fantasy.
But most significantly, in today's complex and ever-evolving world, with a fragile peace in Lebanon, insurgency/civil war in Iraq, al-Qaeda, bomb threats on Brit airliners, and a hundred thousand other things which will affect all our lives far more than one girl who was turned into a plastic junior Barbie doll getting murdered because her parents insisted on parading her in public dressed like a sextoy, these are the ONLY two things that made the cut for what goes on the evening news.
And we're supposed to believe the Media is credible?
Speaking of Credibility, let's talk warrantless wiretapping.
National Review has an article on the subject of the latest court ruling, wherein a lawyer with some serious creds rips the decision to shreds. Whether you are a fan of the Prez's authority to catch terrorists before they commit mass murder or not, the sloppiness and bad law contained in this ruling is interesting.
Personally, the question to me is "reasonable" and that changes with the stakes of the game. What is unreasonable in pursuit of a common criminal becomes eminently so when dealing with an enemy with which we are (de facto if not de jure) at war.
Totally Changing the Subject, this is as good as description of converting to Orthodoxy as can be fitted into a blog entry. And while we are all different, we all have some similarities. I never dipped into 'alternative spirituality' (although Mithra looked appealing for a brief time, until I considered the expense of sacrificing bulls) the same things drew me in.
posted by Just A Decurion at 8/18/2006 09:00:00 PM
3 Comments:
Okay, the time stamp shows that you posted on the sword thing (using the exact same link I did) before I did, but I did not see the message. Independent discovery? Wierd.
Nope, I got it from you.
You forget that my timestamps are 8 hours off from you.
Pee-wee Herman on casual day...that sums up his look pretty well. HA! You're right about the media focussing on the wrong things, but the media IS consumer driven, for worse or for worse. I wonder why I am interested in the Jonbenet story, but have a harder time mentally engaging in the Middle East wars and bombs. Probably because I relate to the parents, in a way, and really wonder if they are going to be vindicated from the accusations they have faced all of these years. The other topics you raised don't *seem* as personal, but your blog is helping me to have a better understanding and bigger worldview. Thanks!
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