OC Website News!
November 18th, 2004 by ollyAn analysis of the OC website stats leads us inexorably to the following observations:
Archive for November, 2004OC Website News!November 18th, 2004 by ollyAn analysis of the OC website stats leads us inexorably to the following observations: “Sidewalk Commandos”November 17th, 2004 by ollyThis is golden (and refreshingly level-headed) stuff, especially the rip on Terry Eagleton. From local blog No Credentials. How To Make Friends And Influence People, Part XVIIINovember 17th, 2004 by ollyThere’s a decent post to be written about unseemly conservative whining (and its relation to the unseemly liberal whining that we have all come to love so well), but this piece of filigreed nonsense from Princeton is nowhere near it.
Well, I’m glad we cleared that up! Jesus. If we switch the instances of “liberal” and “conservative” in the above, it’d fit neatly into place on any number of right-leaning websites. It’s completely content-free. Also, a fine piece of bait-and-switch debate. Ready? Here’s the bait:
And here’s the switch:
See? “Substantive, working relationship” is a far cry from “organized 9/11”. Now, one may fairly question whether the nature and extent of the relationship warranted invading the damn country. (I have a feeling I’m going to be on the fence about this one for as long as I can manage to stay balanced there.) But that’s an actual argument, where both sides have valid points to make, and there’s no clear-cut answer. Where’s the fun? It’s easier to just write off everyone who disagrees with you as a moron. (Hat tip: the CN, who may or may not still be speaking to us.) Is it Dre? Is it Dre?!November 16th, 2004 by melissaJust can’t seem to escape the spotlight, poor Dr. Dre. But on the upside, this is a nice distraction from whiny partisan feuding… wait. Nevermind. Marion “Suge” Knight 2008! “…he don’t wanna play checkers or sip tea when he steps into freedom. “ Word. Come, Ye Masters of Presidential SecurityNovember 15th, 2004 by danimalApparently, Bob Dylan still has the capacity to shock the Square Community. Parents, students, and administrators at Boulder (CO) High School were shocked and appalled to learn that an ad-hoc musical group called the Coalition of the Willing intended to perform the 41-year-old song “Masters of War,” which ends with these words:
This was somehow taken as a death threat on President Bush, prompting the school principal to call in the Secret Service. The Secret Service, duly unimpressed, “questioned {the principal} for 20 minutes and took a copy of the lyrics.” High School principals have apparently not gotten any smarter since I graduated. Side Note: Shame on us! As a tangent to the Dylan song hubbub, the above-linked story also notes a 70 teeny bopper-strong protest of Bush’s reelection held at Boulder High last week. The protest was lauded by teacher Jim Vacca, and he had pointed words for all of us:
Now. Forget about the non sequitor of the week. Best “Open Letter to Jim Vacca” on the comment boards wins. Reach Out And Slap SomeoneNovember 15th, 2004 by ollyMore from the Department of Reconciliation. I read Rall compulsively, but don’t usually bother linking to his stuff, ’cause it’s much of a muchness. I only enclose this one because there’s a golden moment: midway through a rant about how much cleverer he is than all those dopey Bush voters, he gets “red states” and “blue states” mixed up. He’s not representative of any sane political tendency, but the guy just won’t leave it alone. Between him and his cognates on the right, it’s going to be another great four years. What Good Is French Anyway?November 13th, 2004 by TimothyBack on the mean, needle-covered streets of Lake Oswego where I grew up, I was required to take two years of language to graduate from high school. Today I speak exactly no spanish, I might be able to ask for a bathroom, a telephone, and maybe a drink, but damned if there’s a chance in hell I’d ever understand the reply. Guest blogger Daniel Akst at Marginal revolution argues that it might make more sense to require finance. As I have a degree in Economics but have never been able to balance my own checkbook, and certainly would’ve been completely incapable of that feat upon graduating from highschool, I tend to agree. Let Them Eat SantorumNovember 13th, 2004 by peteIve always liked Dan Savage. Hes never been afraid to hurt feelings. Listen, Lonely In Detroit, so long as you live with your mother and maintain a Farscape website youre probably not going to score much. Thats reality. Forty and Fatherless, dont drag anyone else into you emotional bog. Chained up in the Dark and Begging For Help, youre certainly in a dire predicament, but… However, this new column of his is like something deleted from the Ted Rall message board for poor taste. If this is to be the lefts new position, then they deserve to lose every national election until the Rapture, when they can finally have their godless paradise. “Certain distressed liberals and progressives are talking about fleeing to Canada or, better yet, seceding from the Union. We can’t literally secede and, let’s admit it, we don’t really want to live in Canada. It’s too cold up there and in our heart-of-hearts, we hate hockey. We can secede emotionally, however, by turning our backs on the heartland. We can focus on our issues, our urban issues, and promote our shared urban values. The Republicans have the federal government–for now. But we’ve got Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, New York City (Bloomberg is a Republican in name only), and every college town in the country. We’re everywhere any sane person wants to be. Let them have the shitholes, the Oklahomas, Wyomings, and Alabamas. We’ll take Manhattan.” And that was the most rational part of the whole diatribe. Read this and youll never second guess your Bush vote. Hat Tip: Sully I’ll bet it was a nice vase though.November 13th, 2004 by jeremyWhile waiting for the live broadcast to start at KIVI in Boise, I came across this story on ABC’s 20/20. On the up side, Hillary Clinton might have some dirty laundry to deal with because of this whole thing. New York Post’s Cindy Adams says that, “in Chapter 13 alone there’s enough material to keep a battery of Clinton damage controllers working overtime.” University Kow-Tows To HirNovember 12th, 2004 by TylerClick this and scroll down the page until you reach Toby Hill-Meyer. They actually did it. They actually changed his damn pronoun. Fuck this school so hard. Wish You Were Here!November 12th, 2004 by ShoFound this interesting bit of law enforcement news from England via Boing Boing. Here’s hoping that a certain someone on staff isn’t on the Dorset Police mailing list. And Scott Peterson is…November 12th, 2004 by melissaHa, sucka. We’ll see you again in, oh, never. “It’s Not Even A Real Country Anyway”November 11th, 2004 by ollyJust when you though things couldn’t get any bleaker, more terrible news: it seems sociology adjunct Chuck Hunt will not be the last Marxist standing. In the wake of a second Bush victory, he’s off to Canada. (Follow the link to see a photo that should win the ODE some kind of award.) Meanwhile, Eugene media seems to be going out of its way to provide me with Spew today:
Golly. If that’s the way he feels, I think he should hurry off to Canada without delay. After all, I’d have wanted to get out of apartheid South Africa too! Deathcab for KerryNovember 11th, 2004 by floodI know no career minded rocker type is gonna be pro-Bush, but it is so obnoxious to be told that I should join forces with MoveOn.org at a fricking rockshow. I’m sorry that the election “was a real bummer” for Deathcab but really, less talkin’, more rockin’. My extremely reasonable roommate said it nicely, “I would have liked Kerry to win too, but that’s just not cool.” At least they were comp tickets. Lessons We Never Learned From He-ManNovember 11th, 2004 by ollyI must admit, I was rolling my eyes a bit after reading the discussion chez Prophet about Pixar’s shiny new The Incredibles. For fuck’s sake (thought I) it’s a cartoon about superheroes. I defy anyone – even A.O. Scott – to make political hay from this. Are we in danger of presenting superheroes too uncritically in our cartoons? The message that people seem to be picking up from the film – don’t hide your torch under a bushel, get the most you can out of the talents you have, be an individual! blah blah empowerment-cakes – is always timely, but I don’t think it’s particularly (or exclusively) conservative in the political sense. After all (thought I) laments against mediocrity don’t have to be partisan. I’m looking forward to seeing the film, but for reasons that have everything to do with Brad Bird and nothing to do with politics. And so I went about my day. You know what’s coming next. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Lois Wadsworth, in what may be her finest hour.
I retract my earlier eye-roll. Clearly, Pixar’s The Incredibles is a sinister tool of the neofascist right, deviously conditioning our children to, um, be superheroes.
Jesus. I’m always gratified when people write this kind of thing while I’m putting a Spew section together. |