I saw this on Facebook this morning, in a note by Zach Basaraba from the MCC. Basaraba is the same person that ridiculed Meili Yu for being “Culturally Incompetent”, amongst other things.

“Is the current Chinese occupation of Tibet just imperialism, or is the “Free Tibet” campaign just propaganda with the aim of maintaining US imperialism and an elite monarchy in the region (Considering the Dalai Llama is funded by the US Government and was essentially a puppet state of Chieftain rule)?”

Does the MCC really want someone like this representing them? Wow. Their logic has become so twisted that advocating for human rights is now maintaining US imperialism. These people’s hate for America is so strong that they’d rather advocate for CHINESE rule in Tibet.

But it makes sense for the MCC to do so, because after all, in the United States, here they do execute people and bill their families for the bullet used. And they march practitioners of Falun Gong throughout the street before lining them up on a wall and shooting them in the back of the head. And they censor Internet sites and perform late-term abortions on women that violate the one-child policy.

Wait, did I get something wrong here?

Charlton Heston is dead today at 84. Due to the nature of Alzheimers disease, the obit writers have had plenty of time to choose their words carefully when giving the great actor and longtime NRA president his due propers.  “Ultimate Movie Star,” says the WaPo, “An Epic Life” purrs ABC News, “Larger Than Life” cries MSNBC in a frenzy.  Even Michael Moore put Chucks photo on his website. Hell, even Al Jazeera called the guy an “All American Hero,”  although this may not have been meant as a compliment.  Of course, the last thing Chuck needed was another compliment. “I have played three presidents, three saints and two geniuses,” said Heston once. “If that doesn’t create an ego problem, nothing does.”

Heston’s courage in politics matched his heroic onscreen personae, standing up for the second amendment in its least popular hours. Although demonized by the left for his service to the NRA, Heston was one of the first Hollywood actors to march for civil rights in the 1960’s. Ultimately, his greatest legacy is his films. From The Ten Commandments to Planet of The Apes, from A Touch of Evil to Soylent Green, his performances projected a sense of determination, presence and heroism which will likely never be matched.

Ah, the Internet – a wonderful creation that allows unsound information to be spread to millions of gullible users. “Zeitgeist: The Movie” is the latest piece of flashy drivel to capture the imaginations of stupid people everywhere. Available to watch for free, the film is making its way across the Internet faster than you can say “nonsense on stilts.” In fact, today is apparently “Zeitgeist Day”; the movie is being screened all around the world, including on campus. Here’s part of the Zeitgeist Day manifesto, as lifted from the website:

The greatest fraud of our time is the social conditioning that leads us as individuals to operate out of our own personal self-interest and nothing more. Material, poverty, war, genocide, manipulation, crime and corruption are the results. The removal of the grand illusion known as “separation” is the true ‘activism,’ as everything else is a mere result of the consequential ‘elitism’ inherent in the need for self-perpetuation. [Blah, blah blah. Corporatism, religion.] The revolution is now.

The film is a hodgepodge of various conspiracy theories divided into three parts – Christianity, 9/11 and the international banking system. These parts that are ostensibly connected in an “everything’s connected” kind of way, but since I couldn’t make heads or tails of the “big message,” I’ll address each part separately. (more…)

Communism might not be over, but the man who has been in power for as long as most of our parents can remember said early this morning, “I will not aspire nor accept – I repeat I will not aspire or accept – the post of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief.” That was, obviously, Fidel Castro.

The newly elected Cuban Parliament will meet this Sunday and will choose the new council of state, including the president. Since he grasped power in 1959, his brother Raul, who is years his junior, has been positioned to take over the presidency.

So what new foreign policy cackles has Castro — a rather irrelevant dictator by modern standards, frankly — raised in his last few months as el Presidente? Surprisingly, he’s raised a few.

Fidel and U.S.presidential hopeful John McCain have been in a back-and-forth verbal battle over Cuba’s involvement in the torture of U.S. POWs during the Vietnam War. Earlier this month Fidel wrote an article in the Granma, the newspaper of the Central Committe of the Cuban Communist Party, that denied McCain’s accusations, calling them unethical. Fidel attacked him further saying: “The commandments of the religion you practice prohibit lying.” McCain responded with the whole “to respond is to dignify, and I will not dignify” bit. He says this is a matter of record which is not up for debate. It seems odd that Fidel would choose to comment on these allegations now, but I wouldn’t put it past Hillary’s strategists, if she has anymore left that is.

The following is a letter from Belgian pundit Neil Brown, former Senator of the ASUO.

Dear ASUO,

Wow. First, I would like to congratulate Nick on being a what appears to be a beacon of sanity in what appears to be a Senate that has completely gone off the tracks. I really regret that I was unable to serve with Nick. I just wanted to advise everyone to grow up.

The people who gripe the most about viewpoint neutrality are the people who appear to understand it the least. I’m referring to those who think viewpoint neutrality means one should discard every meaningful factor in regards to determining funding and simply focus on what makes us feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. My friends, that is the polar opposite of viewpoint neutrality.

(more…)

President George W. Bush’s final State of the Union address last night was awesome! He even quoted Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The USA.” How cool is that? Well, he said “made in the USA,” but we all know “W” was rocking out in his head while he spoke.

Highlights at a glance: shedding 151 bloated government programs totaling $18 billion (harrumph); trust people with their own money (harrumph, harrumph); Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq and this enemy will be defeated (harrumph, harrumph, harrumph); and a well-deserved ovation for Bob Dole. Of course, the nit-picky democrats just had to respond indifferently. (more…)

Muhammad Yunus’s banking plan is simple enough.

“I just have to look at what the conventional banks are doing and do the opposite.”

Yunus founded Grameen Bank in Bangladesh 31 years ago. He pioneered the idea of microcredit, and he and his bank were awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their efforts. Yunus spoke at the Bagdad Theater in Portland on Sunday, part of a tour for his new book, “Creating a World Without Poverty.” Yunus believes, “because poverty is artificially imposed on society, it can be removed.” (more…)

From the oppressive DC-8 piloting forces of Xenu the evil, ancient space emperor who is the cause of all of the world’s problems. Gawker has the full scoop.

Other than being a completely hilarious belief system, Scientology—the made-up religion of pulp writer/hack L. Ron Hubbard—is dangerously litigious and secretive organization. Known for creating “dead agent packs” to intimidate and silence their critics. The video of Cruise linked above is a fairly frightening window into the mindset of the organization through one of its most fervent supporters.

Yahoo’s coverage here.
Previous OC coverage of Scientology here.
Another trip down the rabbit hole here.

If the fear-mongerers haven’t already told you, there was an incident today involving five Iranian ships making ‘aggressive manuevers and showing hostile intent’ towards three U.S. Navy ships in international waters.

Following is a transcript of an IM exchange between two American patriots in reaction:

D: Iranian ships just made advances toward US ships in international waters

S: Dude fucking awesome! Ron Paul 2008

D: Yeah but let’s fucking kick some ass first, those bastards want to fight us

S: Alright man! Let’s do this! I’ll book a flight to Iran right now, get your guns ready! Leeeeerooooy Jeeeeeekiiiiiins! 

In other, unrelated news, oil prices are up 49 cents.

Two shots fired, and then a bomb exploded at a rally held by former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.  (more…)

TIME Magazine is on a roll. After giving last year’s Man of the Year award to You, as in “all y’all,” it’s awarding Russian President Vladimir Putin this year’s title. Yep, Putin – the guy who’s been putting that old KGB charm back into Russian politics as of late. However, TIME doesn’t want you to think they’re into that sort of thing. (more…)

“Was it especially hairy? Good Lord, yes it was.” -Gary Shteyngart, Absurdistan

Called “Britain’s most dreaded literary prize,” the Literary Reviews annual “Bad Sex Award” has been handed out for the last 15 years with the aim “to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it.” Winners receive a bottle of champagne and a semi-abstract statue representing sex in the 1950s if they show up to collect, which surprisingly most do.

This year’s award was won posthumously by the late Norman Mailer, for a breathtakingly revolting passage in which a characters sex organ is described as being “soft as a coil of excrement.” The entire selection of shortlisted passages is here, and a few of my personal faves can be found right here if you (more…)

From Reuters (emphasis mine):

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Spain’s King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday to “shut up” during closing speeches by leaders from the Latin world that brought the Ibero-American summit to an acrimonious end.

“Why don’t you shut up?” the king shouted at Chavez, pointing a finger at the president when he tried to interrupt a speech by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

You see? That’s how you deal with nancy-boy, would-be dictators. King Juan Carlos must have read the Man Issue.

The ongoing quality issues that have plagued Chinese imports and spurred waves of recalls took a turn for the absurd recently, when doctors in Australia discovered that “Aqua Dots”, a brand of water-fusing bead toys, creates a chemical related to GHB, a banned “date rape drug,” when eaten by children. Apparently doctors thought that a kid had been roofied by his parents, before discovering that “an obscure industrial chemical used to prevent water-soluble glues from becoming sticky before they are needed” actually turned into GHB when ingested, which resulted in parents finding children with coma and seizure-like symptoms and vomiting beads.  Now, we all know that kids have the inalienable right to put anything they want in their mouths without ever running any risk of consequences, and we also know without a doubt that GHB is bad. So what do we do about this grave risk to our precious little future Americans? Several local fraternities have offered to buy up remaining stocks of the GHB-producing beads for “proper disposal.”